INT  SB  UBRARV 


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CONSOLATION. 


BY   THE 

REV.  CHAUNCEY   GILES, 

AUTHOR    OF     "MAN    AS    A    SPIRITUAL    BEING,"     "  OUR    CHILDREN    IN 

THE  OTHER  LIFE,"   "  WHY  I   AM   A  NEW  CHURCHMAN," 

ETC.,   ETC. 


"  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn  :  for  they  shall  be 
comforted." — Matt.  v.  4. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

AMERICAN  NEW-CHURCH  TRACT  AND  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY, 

2129  Chestnut  Strket. 
1893. 


Copyright,  1893, 

BY 

Rev.  Chauncey  Giles. 


Printed  by  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia. 


TO    THE    BEREAVED. 


This  little  book  is  dedicated  to  you  in  the  hope 
that  it  may  give  you  consolation  in  your  sorrow,  or 
at  least  direct  you  to  the  only  source  from  which 
the  healing. of  all  wounded  affections  comes,  and 
give  you  some  hints  of  the  means  by  which  you  can 
gain  access  to  its  consoling  and  life-giving  power. 
When  a  great  affliction  falls  upon  us  our  eyes  are  so 
blinded  with  tears  that  we  cannot  see  the  heavenly 
light  that  is  shining  around  us,  and  we  need  help  to 
open  them  to  a  consciousness  of  its  presence.  We 
are  so  stunned  by  the  blow  that  we  cannot  feel  the 
gentle  and  soothing  presence  of  Him  who  promises 
to  comfort  all  who  mourn.  But  oftener,  perhaps, 
our  wounded  affections  are  so  sore  that  we  shrink 
from  every  contact  and  every  effort  to  heal  them. 
We  feel  helpless  and  we  need  encouragement  to 
make  an  effort  to  turn  our  thoughts  away  from  our 
sorrow  and  lift  them  up  to  see  "the  silver  lining 
in  the  cloud;"  we  need  kind  and  gentle  and  wise 

3 


4  TO    THE  BEREAVED. 

counsel  to  win  us  to  see  and  to  enjoy  the  good  that 
remains. 

This  little  book  is  written  in  the  hope  that  it  may 
perform  this  use  to  some  who  are  mourning  the  loss 
of  children  and  friends  who  were  as  dear  to  them 
as  their  own  life.  It  is  written  from  the  personal 
experience  of  the  author.  The  incidents  and  the 
conversations  are  leaves  from  his  own  memory,  and 
stand  for  many  more  of  a  similar  nature.  He  has 
the  happiness  of  knowing  that  they  have  been  help- 
ful in  dispelling  doubts  and  quieting  groundless 
fears  and  leading  to  more  intelligent  and  cheerful 
views  in  this  life,  subject  as  it  is  to  many  bereave- 
ments and  sorrows,  and  to  brighter  hopes  of  the 
life  to  come. 

Some  passages  from  the  Word  of  the  Lord  are 
printed  on  separate  pages,  in  which  He  expresses  in 
the  most  specific  and  emphatic  terms  His  infinite 
and  unchanging  love  and  mercy  for  all  the  children 
of  men,  His  tenderness  and  pity  for  the  afflicted 
and  suffering,  and  His  constant  effort  to  save  us  from 
sin,  which  is  the  cause  of  all  our  pain  and  sorrow, 
and  to  bless  us  with  every  good  we  will  receive 
from  Him.  This  is  a  view  of  His  character  and 
disposition  towards  all  men  which  we  are  prone  to 


TO    THE  BEREAVED.  5 

doubt  in  our  bereavement  and  despair  at  the  loss  of 
those  who  are  dearest  to  us.  We  must  remember 
that  these  are  not  idle  words  ;  that  they  are  distinct 
promises  made  by  the  Lord  Himself;  that  they  were 
made  to  be  kept  and  will  be  kept  to  the  letter  when 
we  comply  with  the  conditions  which  are  the  only 
means  by  which  the  Lord  can  send  the  Comforter 
to  heal  our  wounded  affections  and  give  us  peace 
and  rest. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

PAGE 

Widowed  and  Despairing 9 

CHAPTER    II. 
The  Dawning  Light 23 

CHAPTER    III. 

Conflict  of  Loyalty  in  Love    .     •  .       .        .39 

CHAPTER    IV. 
Losing  Life,  Gaining  Life 55 

CHAPTER    V. 
Light  from  the  Grave  of  Buried  Hopes       .    75 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Finding  the  Lost  One 99 

7 


8  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    VII. 

PAGE 

From  Apparent  to  True  Riches        .        .        .119 

CHAPTER    VIII. 
Give  and  it  shall  be  Given  to  You         .         .  137 

CHAPTER    IX. 
The  Lord's  Love  for  Man         .        .        .        .151 

CHAPTER    X. 
How  to  Love  and  Trust  the  Lord  .        .        .  169 


CHAPTER    I. 

WIDOWED    AND    DESPAIRING. 


"As  a  father  pitieth  his  children,  so  the  Lord  pitieth 
them  that  fear  him. 

"  For  he  knoweth  our  frame  ;  he  remembereth  that  we 
are  dust. 

"  As  for  man,  his  days  are  as  grass  :  as  a  flower  of  the 
field,  so  he  flourisheth. 

"  For  the  wind  passeth  over  it,  and  it  is  gone  ;  and  the 
place  thereof  shall  knuw  it  no  more. 

"But  the  mercy  of  the  Lord  is  from  everlasting  to 
everlasting  upon  them  that  fear  him,  and  his  righteous- 
ness unto  children's  children  ;  to  such  as  keep  his  cov- 
enant, and  to  those  that  remember  his  commandments 
to  do  them." — Psalm  ciii.  13-18. 


CONSOLATION. 


CHAPTER   I. 

WIDOWED    AND    DESPAIRING. 

"  I  wish  you  would  call  on  Mrs.  Luce 
and  try  to  comfort  her  in  her  bereave- 
ment," said  a  friend  of  mine  who  was 
accustomed  to  suggest  to  me  a  way  of 
being  useful  to  others  when  she  saw  an 
opportunity  of  doing  it. 

"What  calamity  has  befallen  your  friend 
Mrs.  Luce  that  she  needs  help  from  a 
comparative  stranger  ?  She  has  her  min- 
ister and  many  intelligent  friends,  who 
ought  to  be  able  to  give  her  all  the 
consolation  that  one  person  can  give 
another." 

ii 


1 2  CONSOLA  TION. 

"I  know  that.  They  have  tried,  but 
they  have  done  nothing  to  lift  her  burden 
of  sorrow  or  dispel  one  shadow  from  her 
mind ;  she  continues  to  be  perfectly  hope- 
less and  the  picture  of  despair." 

"What  is  the  cause  of  her  sorrow?"  I 
asked. 

"  Her  husband  died  two  weeks  ago, 
and  she  is  overwhelmed  with  grief  at 
her  loss.  I  have  never  seen  any  one  so 
broken-hearted.  She  will  see  no  one  but 
her  most  intimate  friends,  and  even  their 
presence  seems  to  be  irksome  to  her. 
She  has  lost  all  interest  even  in  her  chil- 
dren, and  sits  in  a  darkened  room  brood- 
ing over  her  loss.  I  am  really  afraid  she 
will  become  insane  if  something  is  not 
done  to  help  her  change  the  current  of 
her  thoughts." 

"But  what  leads  you  to  think  that  I  can 
help  her  when  all  others  have  failed  ?"  I 


WIDOWED   AND   DESPAIRING.  1 3 

asked.  "  And  my  acquaintance  with  her 
is  very  slight." 

"She  mentioned  your  name  the  last  time 
I  saw  her,  and  spoke  of  something  she 
had  heard  you  say,  or  had  read  of  your 
writings,  in  such  a  way  that  I  felt  as 
though  you  might  give  her  some  com- 
fort." 

"  If  that  is  the  case  I  will  call  upon  her, 
and  if  I  can  do  anything  to  comfort  her 
it  will  give  me  great  pleasure." 

According  to  my  promise,  the  next  day 
I  called.  As  I  approached  the  house 
there  was  every  external  indication  that  it 
was  deserted.  The  shutters  were  closed 
on  the  first  story,  and  the  curtains  were 
drawn  over  the  windows  on  the  story 
above.  There  were  no  signs  of  life  visi- 
ble. I  rang  the  bell,  and  after  waiting 
some  minutes  a  servant  came  to  the  door 
and   partly  opened  it,  as  though  she  did 


14  CONSOLATION. 

not  intend  to  admit  any  one.  I  presented 
my  card  and  inquired  for  Mrs.  Luce. 
The  servant  said  she  was  not  seeing 
any  one.  I  asked  her  to  present  my  card, 
however,  which  she  reluctantly  did,  evi- 
dently showing  by  her  manner  that  there 
was  no  use  in  doing  it.  But  she  soon 
returned,  much  to  my  surprise,  saying  that 
Mrs.  Luce  would  see  me. 

I  found  her  sitting  in  a  room  from 
which  the  light  was  almost  wholly  ex- 
cluded. She  greeted  me  in  a  faint  and 
mournful  voice,  and  asked  me  to  be 
seated. 

I  told  her  I  had  heard  of  her  great 
affliction  and  had  come  at  the  earnest 
solicitation  of  her  friend,  in  the  hope  that 
I  might  give  her  some  consolation  in  her 
bereavement,  or  in  some  way  assist  in 
mitisfatinsf  her  sorrow. 

She   said   it  was  very  kind   in   me  to 


WIDOWED   A. XI)    DESPAIRING.  1 5 

think  of  her;  but  she  knew  there  was  no 
help  for  her.  Her  life  had  gone  out  of 
her.  There  was  nothing-  more  left  for 
her.  She  was  incapable  of  thinking  or 
doing  anything.  She  had  no  more  in- 
terest in  life.  He  to  whom  she  had  given 
it  had  passed  out  of  it.  He  had  gone 
she  knew  not  where,  and  become  she 
knew  not  what.  She  could  not  think  of 
him  as  he  was  now.  She  could  not  love 
a  formless  spirit,  and  it  made  her  shudder 
to  think  of  him  as  lying  in  the  cold,  dark 
grave. 

It  seemed  some  relief  to  her  to  say  so 
much  about  her  own  feelinos.  I  had  heard 
that  she  answered  every  one  in  mono- 
syllables. She  even  put  away  her  chil- 
dren when  they  were  admitted  to  see  her. 

I  replied  that  I  could  understand  how 
so  great  a  sorrow  must  absorb  every 
thought   and    affection    and    darken    the 


1 6  CONSOLATION. 

whole  mind.  I  knew  that  so  many  most 
intimate,  tender,  and  sensitive  ties  as  bind 
husband  and  wife  together  could  not  be 
severed  without  the  most  intense  suffer- 
ing-, and  that  they  must  leave  an  aching 
void  in  the  heart  which  nothing  else  could 
fill.  But  still  there  were  sources  of  con- 
solation accessible  to  all ;  and  that  there 
was  a  balm  for  every  wound,  but  it  re- 
quired time  to  heal  these  wounded  affec- 
tions ;  and  there  were  ways  of  mitigating 
our  mental  as  well  as  our  material  suf- 
fering. 

"There  are  none  for  me,"  she  replied. 
"  They  are  too  deep,  too  deep.  I  sit  and 
think  and  think  until  I  can  think  no 
longer.  My  mind  becomes  a  blank. 
Everything  is  lost.  Oh,  the  agony  of  it ! 
What  shall  I  do  ?" 

"You  have  your  children  to  love,  and 
many  friends  who  deeply  sympathize  with 


WIDOWED  AND   DESPAIRING.  1 7 

you  in  your  bereavement  and  who  would 
rejoice  to  do  anything  in  their  power  to 
assist  you,"  I  replied. 

"Love!"  she  broke  in  with  passionate 
emotion.  "  1  cannot  love.  My  love  has 
all  pfone  with  him.  It  seems  a  sacrilege 
to  love  any  one,  even  my  children,  or  to 
care  for  anything-  since  he  has  gone." 

"  We  can  show  our  love  for  others  by 
doing  for  them  what  they  would  do  if 
they  were  with  us,"  I  replied.  "  Did 
your  husband  love  his  children  ?" 

"Love  them  !  Of  course  he  did.  He 
was  perfectly  devoted  to  them,  and  it  was 
one  of  his  greatest  concerns  when  he 
knew  his  disease  was  fatal,  and  his  last 
request  that  they  should  be  brought  up 
to  be  good  men  and  women." 

"  Do  they  miss  him  and  grieve  on 
account  of  his  death  ?" 

"  Certainly  they  do.     Sometimes  I  think 


1 8  CONSOLATION. 

they  feel  his  loss  almost  as  much  as  I  do. 
Though  I  must  confess  I  have  not  seen 
much  of  them.  I  have  been  so  over- 
whelmed by  my  own  sorrow." 

"  Can  you  not  comfort  them  and  help 
them  by  giving  them  your  sympathy,  and 
showing  them  that  your  loss  and  sorrow 
are  mutual  ?  I  think  you  will  find  com- 
fort in  comforting  them.  Let  them  come 
to  you  and  express  their  sorrow  for  your 
loss  and  their  love  for  you.  Talk  with 
them,  and  be  as  brave  and  calm  as  pos- 
sible. It  will  relieve  you  and  help  them. 
Do  it  for  your  husband's  sake.  If  he 
were  present  you  would  think  it  wrong  to 
neglect  any  means  in  your  power  to  com- 
fort them  in  any  of  their  little  disappoint- 
ments and  sorrows.  Should  you  not  be 
still  more  desirous  and  prompt  to  do  so 
now  when  they  cannot  go  to  him  for 
comfort  ?" 


WIDOWED   AND    DESPAIRING.  IQ 

"  I  have  not  thought  of  that.  I  am 
afraid  I  have  been  very  selfish  and  have 
thought  only  of  my  own  sorrow.  But  it 
was  such  a  terrible  blow.  It  seemed  as 
though  everything  had  gone  from  me." 

"I  am  not  surprised  at  that.  Such 
great  calamities  do  overwhelm  us  for  a 
time.  But  they  pass,  and  when  the  sur- 
prise and  distress  have  in  some  degree 
subsided,  we  can  consider  them  more 
calmly  and  look  about  to  see  what  there 
is  left  for  us  to  enjoy ;  or  if  that  seems 
impossible,  what  there  is  for  us  to  do. 
By  the  way,  do  you  know  what  a  bright 
and  beautiful  day  it  is  ?" 

"  No.  I  didn't  know  that  there  was 
anything  bright  and  beautiful  in  the 
world." 

"  There  will  not  be  for  you  if  you  shut 
out  the  light.  The  sun  shines  as  bright 
and  warm  as    ever,  but  if  we  close  our 


20  CONSOLA  Tl 'ON. 

eyes  and  exclude  it  from  our  houses  it 
will  not  shine  for  us.  It  is  the  same  with 
our  minds.  The  Lord's  love  is  as  un- 
changeable as  the  sun,  and  His  truth  is  as 
bright  and  clear.  If  we  close  our  hearts 
against  His  love  and  refuse  to  be  ouided 
by  His  wisdom,  it  is  not  His  fault  if  we 
feel  forsaken  and  our  way  seems  dark 
because  we  have  been  disappointed  in 
some  respects.  Allow  me  to  open  a 
window  and  see  how  quick  the  light  will 
come  in  and  glorify  the  room,  and  bring 
with  it  the  forms  of  a  thousand  beautiful 
things. 

"There!  you  see  the  world  is  not  all 
dark,  though  your  room  was.  You  will 
find  it  so  in  your  own  mind.  There  is 
much  for  you  to  enjoy  though  the  great 
joy  has  gone  out  of  your  life.  There  is 
much  for  you  to  do,  more  than  ever,  in- 
deed, and  when  you  take  up  the  burden 


WIDOWED   AND   DESPAIRING.  21 

of  duty  and  begin  to  perform  it,  you  will 
find  it  continually  growing  lighter.  Let 
your  children  come  in  to  see  you.  Let 
them  love  you  and  express  their  love. 
Take  an  interest  »in  their  studies  and 
amusements,  and  give  them  such  help  as 
you  are  able.  Let  the  light,  which  is 
a  gift  from  the  Lord,  come  into  your 
rooms,  and  in  time  it  will  flow  into  your 
mind,  and  you  will  find  that  there  is  much 
left  for  you  to  enjoy,  and  it  would  be 
a  pleasure  to  him  whose  absence  you 
mourn  to  have  you  enjoy  it,  if  he  could 
know  it." 

As  I  rose  to  go  she  even  rose  also, 
and  said,  "  I  thank  you  for  calling.  You 
have  said  some  things  which  I  shall  re 
member,  and  I  think  they  will  help  me 
Come  again  soon,  will  you  not  ?  I  am 
sure  I  shall  want  to  ask  you  some  ques- 
tions suggested   by  what  you  have  said, 


22  CONSOLATION. 

which  are  already  beginning  to  rise  in  my 
mind." 

I  promised  to  do  so,  and  left  feeling 
confident  that  I  had  given  her  some  as- 
sistance in  rousing  her  mind  from  its 
settled  apathy  and  turning  the  current  of 
her  thoughts  from  herself  to  others.  This 
is  the  first  and  essential  step  for  those 
who  are  suffering  from  any  bereavement 
to  take.  It  is  useless  to  try  to  forget  ; 
we  cannot  do  that.  It  is  useless  to  remain 
passive  and  wait  for  the  keen  edge  of 
sorrow  to  become  dull.  The  thoughts 
and  affections  must  go  out  to  others  in 
useful  deeds. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    DAWNING    LIGHT. 


23 


"  A  father  of  the  fatherless,  and  a  judge  of  the  widows, 
is  God  in  his  holy  habitation." — Psalm  lxviii.  5. 

"  Leave  thy  fatherless  children,  I  will  preserve  them 
alive  ;  and  let  thy  widows  trust  in  me." — Jeremiah  xlix. 
11. 

"  The  Lord  is  good  to  all :  and  his  tender  mercies  are 
over  all  his  works." — Psalm  cxlv.  9. 


24 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    DAWNING    LIGHT. 

I  called  in  a  few  days,  and  found  more 
light  in  the  room  and  more  in  the  face  of 
the  bereaved  wife,  though  it  was  by  no 
means  free  from  shadows. 

"  I  am  glad  to  see  your  curtains  raised," 
I  said,  "and  I  hope  they  are  in  some 
measure  withdrawn  from  your  heart." 

She  shook  her  head  and  said,  in  pa- 
thetic tones,  "  Sometimes  it  does  seem  as 
though  life  was  not  quite  so  dark.  The 
children  came  in  as  you  suggested,  and 
they  were  so  gentle  and  so  desirous  to  do 
something  to  comfort  me  that  my  heart 
was  drawn  out  to  them  as  never  before. 

b  3  25 


26  CONSOLA  TION. 

'  We  will  be  good,  and  do  all  we  can  to 
help  you,  mamma,'  George,  who  was  al- 
ways a  manly  little  fellow,  said.  'When 
I  am  bigger  I  will  work  for  you  and  take 
care  of  you,  mamma.' 

"  I  was  much  touched  by  their  sympathy 
and  desire  to  do  everything  in  their  power 
to  help  me." 

"And  I  presume,"  I  said,  "that  their 
visit  did  help  you,  and  showed  you  that 
you  had  something  yet  to  live  for." 

"Yes,  it  did.  It  lifted  me  up  for  a  mo- 
ment. But  I  soon  sank  down  again.  The 
waves  of  doubt  and  darkness  swept  over 
me.  I  cannot  see  why  I  should  be  so 
afflicted.  We  lived  together  so  happily ; 
we  were  so  thoroughly  united,  and  my 
husband  was  so  useful  to  others  in  many 
ways  as  well  as  to  his  own  family.  I  can- 
not see  why  he  should  be  cut  down  in  the 
midst  of   his   usefulness   while   so    many 


THE  DAWNING  LIGHT.  2J 

who  are  not  a  comfort  to  their  families, 
and  of  no  use  to  any  one,  should  live  on. 
It  seems  dreadful." 

"  No,  you  cannot  see.  We  cannot  see 
anything  in  the  future.  We  think  we  can 
see  some  things,  but  we  are  mistaken. 
Hence  arises  our  disappointment.  We 
often  live  to  see  that  those  events  in  our 
life  which  were  the  most  trying,  which 
seemed  to  destroy  all  our  hopes,  proved 
in  the  end  to  be  the  greatest  blessings. 

"  But  we  can  see  events  and  their  con- 
sequences only  on  the  surface,  as  they  are 
related  to  this  world.  There  are  infinite 
results  within  and  beyond  them  which  they 
are  instrumental  in  causing  of  which  we 
know  and  can  know  nothing.  In  your 
husband's  removal  from  this  world  you 
can  see  your  own  bereavement,  the  natural 
loss  to  you  and  to  your  children.  From 
the  point  of  view  of  this  world  and  this 


28  CONSOLATION. 

life  you  can  see  nothing  but  loss,  and  you 
wonder  why  the  Lord  should  permit  it, 
especially  when  you  see  so  many  who 
could  be  spared  without  any  loss  to  their 
families  or  to  the  world.  But  you  do  not 
see  the  consequences  that  lie  concealed 
beneath  the  veil  of  nature  which  will  re- 
sult from  it.  If  you  could  you  would  sub- 
mit with  perfect  resignation  to  suffer  the 
lesser,  momentary  evil  for  the  permanent 
and  greater  good." 

"  You  don't  mean  to  say  that  some 
good  great  enough  to  compensate  for  this 
crushing  sorrow  will  come  to  me  and  my 
children  by  means  of  it !"  she  exclaimed. 

"  Yes,  I  do.  I  have  no  doubt  of  it  what- 
ever, if  you  make  the  right  use  of  it. 
The  Lord  never  suffers  an  evil  to  fall 
upon  any  one  unless  it  is  to  prevent  a 
greater  evil  or  to  do  us  some  positive 
good." 


THE   DA  WNING  LIGHT.  29 

"  I  don't  see  how  an  evil  of  any  kind 
can  be  the  means  of  preventing  a  greater 
one  or  doing  any  good." 

"  Oh,  yes  ;  we  act  on  that  principle  every 
day,  and  we  think  it  a  wise  one  too.  I 
saw  in  the  paper  some  time  ago  that  a 
friend  of  yours  had  one  of  his  legs  ampu- 
tated.   Was  not  that  a  great  misfortune  ?" 

"  Yes,  poor  fellow  ;  but  it  had  to  be 
done  to  save  his  life." 

"So  he  voluntarily  subjected  himself  to 
a  painful  surgical  operation  and  the  great 
loss  of  a  limb  to  prevent  a  greater  evil." 

"  I  never  thought  of  that  before.  But 
I  don't  see  what  greater  evil  could  be  pre- 
vented or  what  good  can  come  from  taking 
away  a  husband  and  father  from  his  wife 
and  children.     Do  you  ?" 

"  No,  I  do  not.  As  I  have  said,  we  do 
not  know  anything  about  the  real  future  ; 
we  can  trace  the  consequences  of  our 
3* 


30  CONS  OLA  TION. 

action  on  the  surface  for  a  while,  but  how 
the  gain  or  the  loss  of  any  natural  good 
will  affect  our  spiritual  interests,  which  are 
the  only  real  ones,  we  have  no  knowledge." 

"  But  is  not  death  the  greatest  evil,  the 
greatest  calamity  that  can  befall  a  human 
being  ?" 

"  Yes,  and  no.  It  depends  upon  the 
kind  of  death  you  mean.  If  you  mean 
the  death  of  the  material  body,  as  I  sup- 
pose you  do,  it  is  not  by  any  means  the 
greatest  calamity.  It  is  often,  perhaps 
always,  one  of  the  greatest  blessings.  But, 
in  fact,  in  your  case  there  has  been  no 
death." 

"  Has  been  no  death?  What  a  strange 
idea  !     Is  not  my  husband  dead  ?" 

"  No :  he  has  lost  no  more  of  life  than 
the  plant  has  when  it  bursts  from  the  seed 
and  springs  out  of  the  ground,  or  than  the 
bird  has  when  it  breaks  from  the  shell  and 


THE  DAWNING   LIGHT.  3  I 

comes  forth  into  the  world  of  light  and 
into  conditions  for  the  exercise  of  its 
senses,  and  the  freedom  and  conscious- 
ness of  life." 

"  If  my  husband  is  not  dead,  or  a  form- 
less essence  which  is  called  the  spirit, 
what  is  he  and  where  is  he,  and  how  can 
I  think  of  him?" 

"  He  is  a  man  in  the  human  form,  a 
solid  and  substantial  man,  with  every 
organ  that  belongs  to  a  man.  In  that 
respect  he  is  no  more  changed  than  he 
would  have  been  by  going  to  London  or 
any  other  place  in  this  world.  But  he 
has  not  gone  so  far  away  from  you  as 
London,  or  even  the  next  street.  He  is 
here  and  with  you  now ;  nearer  to  you 
really  than  ever  before.  He  is  in  the 
spiritual  world.  But  the  spiritual  world 
is  here.  We  are  all  in  it.  If  we  were 
not  we  could  not  live  a  moment.     We  are 


32  CONSOLATION. 

in  it  just  as  the  blind  man  is  in  the  world 
of  light.  All  that  is  necessary  to  come 
consciously  into  it  is  the  opening  of  his 
eyes.  So  all  that  hinders  us  from  seeing 
the  people  and  the  various  objects  in  the 
spiritual  world  is  the  thin  veil  of  the 
material  body,  which  is  removed  by  our 
resurrection  from  it.  We  do  not  go  any- 
where to  some  immense  distance  from 
this  world.  We  remain  nearest  to  those 
we  love  the  best. 

"  As  your  husband  is  in  the  same 
form  he  has  always  been,  has  the  same 
character,  has  lost  nothing  of  thought 
or  love,  or  any  form  or  quality  that  con- 
stitutes a  man,  you  must  think  of  him 
in  that  form  and  possessing  those  quali- 
ties which  awakened  your  love  and  drew 
you  to  him  in  such  intimate  union.  Not 
a  tie  is  broken.  Think  of  him  as  you 
always   have  when   he  was    absent  from 


THE  DAWNING   LIGHT.  33 

your  natural  senses,  only  nearer  to  you 
and  responsive  to  every  thought  and 
affection." 

"  Oh,  if  I  could  only  do  it,  what  a  com- 
fort it  would  be  !  But  if  I  could  only  see 
him  and  hear  from  his  own  lips  that  what 
you  have  told  me  is  true,  I  should  be 
more  comforted  and  content." 

"You  think  so;  but  you  would  not. 
If  he  should  appear  to  you  now  you 
would  be  frightened.  No,  it  is  better  as 
it  is.  Your  husband  has  taken  that  step 
in  life  which  every  one  must  take.  It  is 
an  orderly  step  ordained  by  the  Divine 
wisdom,  and  necessary  to  carry  out  the 
purposes  of  the  Lord's  love  to  bestow 
upon  man  the  greatest  blessedness." 

"  What  a  different  view  of  death  this  is 
from  what  I  have  been  taught  and  im- 
bibed by  all  the  influences  of  association 
with  others !    What  a  comfort  it  would  be 


34  CONSOLA  TION. 

if  I  could  only  believe  it  as  you  seem  to 
do!" 

"  Well,  think  of  it.  Even  the  possi- 
bility that  it  is  true  may  be  of  some  com- 
fort, and  it  can  do  you  no  harm.  It  will 
dispel  some  of  the  shadows  which  have 
cast  a  gloom  over  your  mind,  and  help 
you  to  think  that  there  may  be  much 
happiness  in  store  for  you  in  this  world 
even  yet. 

"  If  what  I  have  told  is  true,  it  is  full 
of  comfort ;  and  I  am  sure  the  more  you 
reflect  upon  it  and  learn  the  relations 
of  the  Lord  to  men  and  the  purposes  of 
His  love  in  regard  to  them,  the  more 
reason  you  will  find  for  believing  it. 

"  I  fear  I  have  wearied  you  with  my 
long  talk,  and " 

"  Oh,  no.  You  have  given  me  some 
new  ideas  that  deeply  interest  me,  and 
will  help  me  to  turn  my  thoughts  to  some 


THE  DAWNING  LIGHT.  35 

more  helpful  subjects.  You  have  really 
comforted  me  very  much." 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  you  say  that.  But 
the  old  states  will  return,  and  it  will  re- 
quire resolution  and  effort  and  some  help 
from  others,  it  may  be,  to  resist  them. 

"  Permit  me  to  say  one  thing  which 
may  help  you.  If  your  husband  were 
here  clothed  in  his  material  body  as  for- 
merly, and  you  had  met  with  some  great 
loss  about  which  you  mourned,  as  you 
have  mourned  about  his  loss,  and  would 
not  be  comforted,  but  settled  down  into 
a  state  of  despair,  how  would  it  affect 
him  ?" 

"  He  would  be  doubly  distressed.  He 
would  mourn  with  me,  and  for  me.  He 
would  sympathize  with  me,  and  my  dis- 
tress would  add  to  his  sorrow." 

"  He  would  try  to  cheer  you  up  and 
comfort  you.     So  it  will  be  now.     If,  as  I 


$6  CONSOLA  TION. 

have  said,  he  is  near  to  you  in  love  and 
sympathy,  he  will  feel  your  distress  and 
it  will  trouble  him.  If  he  could  speak  to 
you  he  would  say,  '  Don't  grieve  so  im- 
moderately, I  am  not  lost  to  you.  There 
is  nothing  that  disturbs  my  happiness  or 
casts  a  shadow  over  my  life  but  the  un- 
happiness  of  those  I  love.'  Do  you  not 
owe  it  to  him,  then,  to  be  as  patient  and 
cheerful  as  possible,  and  to  take  up  the 
duties  of  life,  which  are  largely  increased 
by  his  departure,  and  perform  them  to  the 
best  of  your  ability,  which  I  know  is  very 
great  ? 

"  I  will  not  ask  you  to  answer  this 
question,  but  only  to  think  of  it,  and  if  it 
seems  to  you  that  there  are  some  helpful 
suggestions  in  what  I  have  said,  act  upon 
them  at  once.  I  am  sure  you  will  find  this 
a  much  better  way  of  showing  your  love 
for  your  husband  and  your  loyalty  to  him 


THE  DAWNING  LIGHT.  37 

than  by  suspending  the  active  duties  of 
life,  secluding  yourself  from  society,  and 
refusing  to  be  comforted." 

As  I  rose  to  go  she  took  me  by  the 
hand,  saying,  "  You  are  opening  a  new 
world  of  thought  to  me.  You  have  com- 
forted me,  and  I  will  try  to  profit  by  what 
you  have  said.  But  the  weight  of  this 
sorrow  is  so  great  it  seems  at  times  as 
though  it  would  crush  me.  Come  when 
you  can  find  time  and  help  me  to  see  the 
truth  of  what  you  have  told  me  about 
death  and  the  continued  personal  and 
real  existence  of  those  who  have  passed 
away  from  our  sight.  I  am  sure  that 
would  help  me  more  than  anything 
else." 

"  I  will  try  to  do  it ;  but  all  my  efforts 

will    be  useless   unless   you    try  to  help 

yourself.     Turn  your  thoughts  to  others 

who  need  comfort,  and  do  what  you  can 

4 


38  CONSOLATION. 

to  assist  them  in  bearing  their  burdens. 
In  doing  this  the  Lord  will  help  you." 

"Can't  He  help  me,  if  He  desires  to 
do  it,  without  any  co-operation  from  me  ?" 
she  asked. 

"  No,"  I  replied,  "  He  cannot.  He  has 
so  constituted  our  natures  that  we  can 
act  freely  and  reciprocate  His  love  and 
power.  This  gift  of  the  Lord  is  man's 
crowning  excellence  and  glory.  The 
Lord  cannot  give  thought  and  affection 
and  consciousness  to  a  stone.  He  hon- 
ors us  by  permitting  us  to  co-operate 
with  Him  in  receiving  and  giving  life." 


CHAPTER    III. 

CONFLICT   OP^    LOYALTY    IN    LOVE. 


39 


"  He  that  loveth  father  or  mother  more  than  me  is 
not  worthy  of  me  :  and  he  that  loveth  son  or  daughter 
more  than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me. 

"  And  he  that  taketh  not  his  cross,  and  folio weth  after 
me,  is  not  worthy  of  me." — Matthew  x.  37,  38. 

"  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a  man  lay 
down  his  life  for  his  friends. 

"  Ye  are  my  friends,  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I  command 
you." — John  xv.  13,  14. 


40 


CHAPTER  III. 

CONFLICT  OF  LOYALTY  IN  LOVE. 

I  did  not  see  Mrs.  Luce  for  more  than 
a  week  after  this  visit,  I  was  so  much 
occupied  with  my  regular  duties.  When 
I  did  call,  I  was  pleased  to  find  that  there 
had  been  a  decided  change  in  the  whole 
appearance  of  the  house.  The  rooms 
were  flooded  with  the  unobstructed  light. 
The  windows  had  been  opened,  and  the 
air  was  pure  and  refreshing.  She  was 
engaged  in  some  domestic  duties  when  I 
arrived,  and  asked  to  be  excused  for  a 
few  minutes.  I  was  pleased  at  this,  for  it 
showed  that  she  was  recovering  from  the 
stupor  caused  by  the  terrible  blow  to  her 
4*  41 


42  CONS  OLA  TION. 

affections  and  was  beginning  to  become 
interested  in  the  common  duties  of  life. 

She  soon  entered  the  room,  with  less 
languor  in  her  step  and  more  life  in  her 
manner  than  I  had  seen  before.  Her 
voice  was  clearer  and  her  face  brighter, 
though  shadows  of  her  sorrow  were  by 
no  means  dispelled  from  it.  She  greeted 
me  with  more  interest  than  on  my  former 
visits,  and  seemed  less  inert  and  passive, 
and  more  expectant  of  help  from  our 
conversation. 

"  I  see  you  are  recovering  from  the 
terrible  effects  of  your  bereavement  and 
are  beginning  to  take  up  your  work 
bravely  and  do  it  faithfully." 

"  Yes,"  she  replied,  "  I  am  trying  to 
rouse  up  my  faculties,  which  seemed  to  be 
dormant  if  not  dead.  But  I  find  it  very 
hard.  While  I  sit  and  think  of  my  lone- 
liness   and    weakness,    deprived    of    his 


CONFLICT   OF  LOYALTY  IN  LOVE.      43 

counsel  and  encouragement,  upon  which  I 
depended,  it  seems  impossible  and  useless 
to  make  any  effort.  Then  a  thought  of 
the  children  or  a  call  from  some  one 
breaks  the  current  of  my  feelings,  and  I 
stop  thinking  and  begin  doing." 

"That  is  right,"  I  said.  "That  is  true 
wisdom.  That  is  the  only  way  to  dispel 
the  numbness  and  increase  the  little 
strength  remaining.  Action,  action  in 
some  useful  work  is  the  only  way  to 
dispel  the  shadows  which  darken  your 
mind." 

"  But  then  the  thought  arises  that  I  am 
forgetting  my  husband ;  that  it  is  a  want 
of  loyalty  to  him  to  think  of  anything 
else  or  feel  interest  in  it,  and  that  shocks 
me.  If  I  could  only  feel  that  I  was  not 
forgetting  him  ;  that  I  was  not  wanting 
in  devotion  to  him  while  I  was  thinking 
about   others   and    doing   something   for 


44  CONSOLA  TION. 

them,  it  seems  to  me  I  could  feel  more 
freedom  in  taking  up  the  duties  of  life 
once  more." 

"  There  is  a  way  to  become  interested 
in  others,  and  even  absorbed  in  your 
domestic  and  social  duties,  without  de- 
tracting- from  your  affection  for  your 
husband  ;  a  way  in  which,  indeed,  you 
will  be  drawn  nearer  to  him." 

"  How  can  that  be  ?  If  it  is  possible,  it 
will  relieve  me  from  a  great  trouble.  As 
I  see  the  necessity  of  my  entering  upon 
my  usual  occupations,  there  is  a  constant 
struggle  between  my  duty  to  others  and 
my  loyalty  to  my  husband.  How  can 
they  be  reconciled  ?" 

"  Easily  enough,"  I  replied.  "  Do  your 
daily  duties  from  love  to  him  as  well  as 
those  whom  you  serve.  Then  your  love 
for  him  will  enter  into  and  be  a  powerful 
motive  in  everything  you  do." 


CONFLICT  OF  LOYALTY  IN  LOVE.     45 

"That  is  a  new  idea.  I  must  think 
about  it  and  try  to  see  it  more  clearly. 
If  I  only  could  understand  it,  it  would 
remove  an  immense  difficulty  from  my 
path." 

"  You  have  been  doinof  this  with  more 
or  less  faithfulness  all  your  married  life. 
In  the  ordering  of  your  domestic  affairs 
you  consulted  his  comfort  and  pleasure  ; 
you  have  been  guided  by  his  tastes  and 
means  in  selecting  your  dresses  and 
ornaments  ;  you  have  been  guided  by  his 
tastes  and  wishes  in  your  social  relations; 
and  if  you  will  trace  the  motives  of  your 
life  up  to  their  source,  you  will  find  that 
they  have  been  constantly  influenced  by 
your  love  for  him  and  desire  for  his 
happiness." 

"  I  can  see  plainly  enough  that  that  is 
so.  But  now  he  is  gone  from  me,  and  I 
can  do  no  more  for  him." 


46  CONS  OLA  TION. 

"Why,  then,  should  you  feel  under  any 
obligations  to  think  or  care  for  him  any 
more?  But  he  has  not  gone  from  you. 
He  is  nearer  to  you  than  ever  before. 
His  love  for  you  is  as  strong  as  it  ever 
was.  His  transition  to  the  spiritual  world 
has  had  no  more  effect  in  weakening  his 
love  for  you  than  it  has  in  weakening  your 
love  for  him.  You  have,  therefore,  only 
to  oo  on  living  for  his  sake  and  doing 
what  you  think  would  be  pleasing  to  him, 
as  you  have  done.  Then,  however  deeply 
interested  and  active  you  may  become,  it 
will  draw  you  nearer  together.  You  will 
be  loyal  to  him  and  honor  him  in  caring 
for  the  health  and  providing  for  the  hap- 
piness of  your  children  and  the  welfare 
of  all  within  the  circle  of  your  influence. 

"  You  must  excuse  me  if  I  have  spoken 
too  earnestly.  The  subject  is  an  im- 
portant and  deeply  interesting  one,  and 


CONFLICT  OF  LOYALTY  IN  LOVE.     A7 

of  universal  application.  You  know  our 
Lord  says,  whatever  we  do  to  others  for 
His  sake,  He  accepts  it  as  done  to  Him- 
self. '  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto 
the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have 
done  it  unto  me.' 

"  There  is  another  point  connected  with 
this  subject  which  I  fear  you  may  over- 
look and  which  is  important  to  your  own 
happiness,  and  that  is,  its  relation  to  your- 
self. When  people  are  bereaved  as  you 
have  been,  they  sometimes  think  it  is 
wrong  for  them  to  be  happy." 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  have  felt  so,  and  it  seems 
to  me  so  now.  It  seems  as  though  it 
would  be  almost  a  sin  to  enjoy  anything, 
and  shocking  even  to  smile." 

"Would  your  husband  think  so,  do 
you  suppose?  Would  he  desire  to  see 
your  eyes  red  with  weeping,  and  to  have 
you  go  with  a  sad  countenance  mourning 


48  CONSOLA  TION. 

all  the  days  of  your  life  and  refusing  to 
be  comforted  ?" 

"I  know  he  would  not.  If  he  were 
conscious  of  it,  it  must  destroy  his  happi- 
ness even  in  heaven." 

"Then  for  his  sake  be  comforted,  and 
enjoy  all  of  life  that  remains  to  you. 
Enjoy  your  children.  Enjoy  the  society 
of  your  friends.  If  the  most  precious 
source  of  happiness  is  apparently  removed 
from  you,  enjoy  what  remains.  It  is  the 
duty  of  every  one  to  do  that.  It  is  ingrat- 
itude to  the  Lord  not  to  do  it." 

"It  is  easy  to  say,  '  Enjoy  society.'  It 
is  easy  to  think  of  it.  But  I  cannot  do  it. 
It  seems  as  though  there  was  a  thick  veil 
before  my  face,  and  everything  looks  dim 
and  dark.  There  is  an  aching  void  in  my 
heart  which  nothing  can  fill.  I  do  think  I 
will  rouse  up  and  take  an  interest  in  the 
duties  and  friends  about  me.     But  I  can- 


CONFLICT  OF  LOYALTY  IN  LOVE.      49 

not  My  mind  falls  back  and  dwells  upon 
my  irreparable  loss.  I  try  not  to  mourn, 
but  I  do.  I  try  to  think  that  brighter  days 
will  come,  but  I  cannot  see  how.  Can 
feelings  be  changed  from  sorrow  to  joy 
by  mere  force  of  will  ?" 

"  No,  they  cannot." 

"  Why,  then,  do  you  tell  me  to  be  bright 
and  cheerful  when  you  know  I  cannot  be." 

"  I  don't  know  that.  While  it  is  true 
that  you  can  no  more  change  wounded 
and  painful  feelings  to  sound  and  happy 
ones  than  you  can  heal  a  severe  wound 
in  your  flesh  or  a  broken  bone  by  force 
of  will,  it  is  still  true  that  it  can  be  done." 

"How?     Do  tell  me!" 

"  By  using  the  proper  means.  There 
must  be  a  purpose  to  do  it,  and  then  the 
proper  means  must  be  sought  and  used." 

"  What  are  they,  pray,  and  where  can  I 
find  them  ?" 

c      d  5 


50  CONSOLA  TION. 

"I  have  told  you  of  some  of  them. 
But  perhaps  you  have  no  desire  to  have 
this  gloom  dispelled,  to  come  into  the 
light,  regain  your  cheerfulness,  and  find 
joy  in  life.     Have  you?" 

She  hesitated  a  moment,  and  then, 
looking  up,  answered,  "Yes,  if  my  hus- 
band could  be  restored  to  me." 

"And  if  not?"  I  asked. 

"It  cannot,  cannot  be,"  she  replied. 
"There  is  no  use  in  trying.  I  must  bear 
this  crushing  burden  of  sorrow.  No  one 
can  help  me.  But  you  have  helped  me 
some  for  a  time,  and  I  will  listen  to  any- 
thing you  may  say." 

"We  cannot  do  anything  by  mere  force 
of  will.  You  cannot  sweep  a  room  or 
prepare  a  meal,  or  even  take  a  step  or 
utter  a  word,  by  mere  force  of  will.  We 
must  have  means ;  we  must  have  the  will, 
for  all  our  power  lies  in  the  will ;   but  we 


CONFLICT  OF  LOYALTY  IN  LOVF.      51 

cannot  exercise  it  without  the  instrumen- 
tality of  means." 

"I  see  that  plainly  enough.  Then  the 
real  question  is,  What  are  the  means  ?" 

"They  are  abundant.  You  must  do 
something,  instead  of  sitting  and  brood- 
ing  over  your  sorrow,  and  in  that  way 
nursing  it.  You  must  do  something-  with 
your  hands  that  will  require  attention  and 
thought,  and,  if  possible,  awaken  interest. 
Begin  with  something  that  is  nearest  to 
you.  You  have  done  that  in  some  things, 
and  while  you  were  doing  it  you  forgot 
your  sorrow  and  found  a  ray  of  comfort." 

"Yes,  and  I  felt  as  though  I  had  done 
wrong  and  been  unfaithful  to  my  hus- 
band." 

"  That  is  not  a  true  or  worthy  feeling, 
as  we  have  just  seen.  How  can  that  be 
neglect  when  you  are  doing  what  he 
would    have  you   do,  and  would  be  de- 


52  CONSOLATION. 

lighted  to  assist  you  in  doing?  You  have 
some  things  to  unlearn  as  well  as  to 
learn." 

"  I  see  that  I  have,  The  lessons  are 
difficult  ones,  but  I  will  try  to  learn 
them." 

"It  is  important  that  you  should  settle 
the  question  we  have  been  considering, 
that  it  may  not  stand  in  the  way  of  your 
taking  those  steps  which  will  lead  to  light 
and  peace.  The  Lord  loves  all  men  with 
an  infinite  love.  His  love  is  not  dimin- 
ished by  increase  of  the  numbers  who 
are  the  subjects  of  it.  It  is  not  a  fixed 
quantity  which  can  be  exhausted.  He 
does  not  love  one  person  less  because 
He  loves  others.  This  is  in  the  very 
nature  of  love.  It  is  one  of  its  essential 
qualities.  Is  your  love  for  your  husband 
less  since  you  have  children  to  love  ?" 

"  Certainly  not.     It  seems  as  though  I 


CONFLICT  OF  LOYALTY  IN  LOVE.      53 

loved  him  more,  since  they  came  to  be  a 
blessing  to  me  and  to  him." 

"  Do  you  find  your  love  for  your  first- 
born diminishing  with  the  advent  of 
others  ?" 

"  Why,  no.  How  absurd  the  question  ! 
My  love  for  each  one  increases  rather 
than  diminishes." 

"And  you  do  not  feel  that  you  are 
disloyal  to  one  or  to  your  husband  for 
loving  another?" 

"  Certainly  not ;  such  a  feeling  never 
entered  my  heart." 

"  You  see  the  principle  now.  You 
can  extend  its  application  to  as  many  as 
you  please.  It  is  a  law  of  the  Divine 
order  that  the  greater  number  an  un- 
selfish love  embraces  the  stronger  and 
purer  it  will  be  for  each  one.  You  need 
have  no  fears  of  being  disloyal  to  your 
husband  or  to  your  children  because 
5* 


54  CONSOLA  TION. 

your   affections  take  a  wider   range   and 
embrace  a  greater  number  of  persons. 

"  There  is  another  law  of  life  in  the 
constitution  of  our  natures  of  the  great- 
est importance  inseparably  connected 
with  the  one  I  have  stated.  Our  own 
affections  become  enlarged  and  enriched 
by  extension.  The  more  love  we  give  to 
others  the  more  we  receive.  We  receive 
it  from  those  who  reciprocate  it  from  an 
outward  way  in  the  form  of  speech  and 
deeds,  and  we  receive  from  the  Lord 
from  within.  It  comes  to  us  also  from 
both  directions  in  varied  forms. 

'  Kind  words,  good  deeds,  they  make  not  poor ; 
They'll  home  again,  full  laden,  to  thy  door.' 

"  Do  you  not  see  the  truth  and  reason- 
ableness of  this  view?" 

"Yes,  I  am  sure  I  do,  and  we  will  regard 
it  as  settled.    It  will  trouble  me  no  more," 


CHAPTER    IV. 

LOSING    LIFE,  GAINING    LIFE. 


55 


"  Because  thou  hast  made  the  Lord,  which  is  my 
refuge,  even  the  Most  High,  thy  habitation  ; 

"There  shall  no  evil  befall  thee,  neither  shall  any 
plague  come  nigh  thy  dwelling. 

"For  he  shall  give  his  angels  charge  over  thee,  to 
keep  thee  in  all  thy  ways. 

"They  shall  bear  thee  up  in  their  hands,  lest  thou 
dash  thy  foot  against  a  stone." — Psalm  xci.  9-12. 

"  Make  us  glad  according  to  the  days  wherein  thou 
hast  afflicted  us,  and  the  years  wherein  we  have  seen 
evil." — Psalm  xc.  15. 


56 


CHAPTER    IV. 

LOSING    LIFE,  GAINING    LIFE. 

I  was  called  away  from  home,  and  did 
not  see  Mrs.  Luce  again  for  three  weeks. 
I  felt  deeply  interested  in  learning  what 
progress  she  had  made  in  rising-  out  of  the 
depths  of  her  despair  and  coming  into  the 
light.  I  was  confident  that  she  would  ^ain 
strength  to  bear  her  burden,  which  would 
make  it  seem  lighter  ;  that  her  wounded 
affections  would  gradually  heal,  and  that 
she  would  return  to  the  old  habits  of 
thought  and  life,  though  I  knew  they 
would  never  be  the  same.  Those  who 
have  suffered  a  great  affliction  cannot 
think  and  feel  as  they  did  before.  Some- 
thing has  passed  out  of  their  life  which 

57 


58  CONSOLATION. 

never  can  be  regained.  Everything-  ap- 
pears in  a  new  shade  or  Lint  of  color.  It 
may  be  brighter  or  darker,  but  it  will  not 
be  the  same.  All  human  relations  and 
duties  have  lost  or  gained  something  ; 
seemingly  have  lost,  but  really  may  have 
gained  a  new  significance.  Some  things 
which  we  have  highly  prized  have  lost 
their  value,  and  others  which  we  regarded 
as  of  little  account  are  seen  to  be  im- 
portant. 

The  attempt  is  often  made  to  com- 
fort the  afflicted  with  the  idea  that  they 
may  forget.  But  it  is  in  vain  ;  we  never 
forget.  Who  that  has  ever  seen  a  lovely 
.child,  whose  innocent  and  charming  ways 
had  entwined  him  in  their  deepest  and 
tenderest  natural  affections,  pass  from  the 
home  on  earth  to  the  home  in  heaven 
can  forget  the  gift,  the  awakening  con- 
sciousness,  the  winning  ways,  and  its  un- 


LOSING  LIFE,  GAINING  LIFE.  59 

timely  fading-  away  from  natural  sight? 
Who  that  has  ever  been  called  upon  to 
part  with  husband  or  wife,  whose  natures 
have  been  knit  together  by  the  inter- 
change of  thought  and  affection  in  the 
daily  duties  and  delights  of  domestic  life, 
can  forget  the  awful  wrench  caused  by  the 
sundering  of  the  most  intimate,  tender, 
and  sensitive  affections  ?  It  is  impossible 
in  the  nature  of  the  human  mind.  Indeed, 
we  never  forget  anything-.  But  the  sharp 
and  distinct  outlines  of  all  natural  events 
and  the  most  painful  experiences  can  be 
modified  and  softened  and  made  less  dis- 
tinct ;  they  can  be  overlaid,  as  it  were, 
by  other  subsequent  events,  and  removed 
to  a  distance  by  intervening  experiences 
which  absorb  our  attention.  They  no 
longer  stand  out  bold  and  distinct  and 
arrest  our  thought  and  exclude  our  view 
of  all  other  things.     But  we  never  can 


60  CONSOLA  TION. 

forget  them.  They  have  entered  into  our 
life  and  become  a  part  of  ourselves.  The 
waning  life  and  the  open  grave  and  the 
vacant  house  will  always  stand  out  as  a 
landmark  in  the  journey  of  life,  where 
one  of  its  important  circuits  was  com- 
pleted and  we  entered  upon  a  new  state. 
It  requires  time  and  often  persistent  effort 
to  dull  the  keen  edge  of  such  a  sorrow 
and  to  enable  us  to  reap  the  great  benefit 
it  was  intended  by  the  Divine  Providence 
we  should  derive  from  it. 

These  thoughts  occupied  my  mind  as  I 
was  going  to  renew  my  visits  to  my  be- 
reaved and  sorrowing  friend. 

I  found  her,  as  I  hoped  I  should,  with  a 
brighter  look  in  her  face  and  the  indica- 
tions of  a  more  active  state  of  all  the 
faculties  of  her  mind.  She  gave  me  a 
cordial  but  subdued  greeting. 

"  I  feared,"  she  said,  "  that  you  had  for- 


LOSING   LIFE,   GAINING   LIFE.  6 1 

gotten  me  or  given  me  up  as  a  hopeless 
case."' 

"No,"  I  replied;  "your  fears  are  ground- 
less. I  have  neither  forgotten  you  nor 
thought  of  you  as  a  hopeless  case.  I  was 
called  away  from  home  and  returned  only 
yesterday.  But  I  am  glad  if  you  thought 
enough  of  my  visits  to  fear  that  I  should 
not  repeat  them.  It  shows  that  I  may 
have  said  something  to  interest  you." 

"  Indeed  you  have,"  she  replied.  "  You 
have  awakened  entirely  new  trains  of 
thought  in  my  mind.  You  have  given  me 
new  ideas,  which  interest  me  so  deeply 
that  I  involuntarily  dwell  upon  them.  But 
they  suggest  so  many  new  thoughts  and 
open  so  many  new  doors  that  I  am  almost 
afraid  to  follow  them." 

"Yes,"  I  replied,  "I  know  that  is  the 
nature  of  new  truths,  and  they  are  very 
troublesome    sometimes.      They   awaken 


62  CONSOLATION. 

doubts  and  fears  and  show  us  some  things 
we  do  not  like  to  see.  They  disturb  old 
states  and  break  up  old  habits  of  thought, 
and  reveal  duties  that  are  painful  to  per- 
form. But  if  they  are  genuine  truths  we 
need  not  hesitate  to  follow  them,  for  they 
never  fail  to  lead  to  some  good.  If  they 
induce  us  to  resign  any  natural  good,  it 
is  only  that  we  may  get  a  greater  and 
imperishable  good." 

"  In  my  own  case,  for  instance,  in  the 
loss  of  my  husband,  is  it  possible  that  a 
greater  good,  or  any  good,  can  come  to 
me  from  that  ?" 

"  Yes,  if  you  will  accept  it.     We  often 
gain   more   by   the    loss   of   natural    pos- 
sessions than  we  do  by  retaining  them." 
.   "  How  can  that  be  ?"    she  asked,   with 
surprise. 

"They  may  prevent  us  from  seeking 
anything  higher.     If  we  were  nothing  but 


LOSING    LIFE,  GAINING  LIFE.  63 

a  superior  kind  of  animal,  the  loss  of  any 
means  of  gratifying  a  natural  appetite 
and  worldly  desire  might  be  a  total  loss. 
But  we  are  not.  We  have  a  spiritual 
nature  which  is  as  much  superior  to  our 
natural  worldly  nature  as  the  most  perfect 
animal  is  to  a  plant  or  a  stone.  Anything 
that  diverts  our  attention  from  that  and 
leads  us  to  neglect  its  interests  or  in  any 
way  prevent  its  development  is  a  positive 
loss,  however  delightful  may  be  its  present 
indulgence.  We  may  be  so  comfortably 
situated  in  our  domestic  and  social  rela- 
tions and  so  well  provided  with  means  for 
the  supply  of  our  natural  wants  and  tastes 
that  we  have  no  desire  for  anything  higher, 
and  we  fear  any  changes.  We  are  con- 
tent to  live  as  we  are.  This  is  more  or 
less  the  case  with  multitudes  of  people. 
If  they  want  any  change  it  is  to  gain  more 
of  the  same  'kind,  but  not  to  rise  to  any- 


64  CONSOLA  TION. 

thing  higher.  In  such  cases  it  may  be  a 
great  blessing  to  have  the  pleasant  routine 
of  life  broken  up,  that  they  may  be  led  to 
think  and  strive  lor  something  higher. 
Children  thrown  upon  their  own  energies 
for  support  often  make  much  more  useful 
and  noble  men  and  women  than  they 
would  have  done  if  every  want  had  been 
supplied  and  every  desire  gratified  by  in- 
dulgent parents.  We  see  the  operation 
of  this  principle  every  day  in  our  children. 
They  never  would  learn  to  walk  if  they 
were  always  carried." 

"I  see  that  in  many  things  in  my  own 
children,  but  I  do  not  see  how  it  applies 
to  such  great  and  terrible  changes  as  the 
death  of  the  most  important  member  of 
a  family ;  that  breaks  up  the  course  of 
life.  What  possible  good  can  come  to 
me  or  my  children  out  of  this  bitter  sor- 
row ?" 


LOSING   LIFE,   GAINING   LIFE.  65 

"As  I  have  said  before,  I  cannot  tell  in 
what  special  form  a  more  precious  good 
may  come  to  you,  but  I  am  sure  it  will 
come  in  some  form  if  you  will  accept  it." 

"  If  I  will  accept  it !  Do  you  suppose 
I  would  refuse  any  blessing  that  was  of- 
fered me  that  could  compensate  for  so 
great  a  sorrow  ?" 

"  You  might ;  many  persons  do,  and 
fail  to  derive  any  other  good  from  their 
afflictions  than  the  chastening  and  re- 
straint upon  their  natural  desires." 

"  But  how  can  any  one  in  affliction 
refuse  to  receive  a  blessing  when  it  is 
needed  more  than  ever  ?" 

"  Because  it  is  not  seen  to  be  a  bless- 
ing." 

"  In  my  case,  for  instance,  can  any  good 
come  to  me  in  my  desolation  and  despair 
that  I  should  not  most  gladly  and  grate- 
fully welcome?" 

e  6* 


66  CONSOLA  TION. 

"  I  hope  not ;  and  yet  it  might." 

"  I  cannot  believe  that.  It  seems  too 
absurd.  What  could  it  be?  Can  you 
give  me  no  hint  of  it?" 

"  Perhaps  I  can.  I  will  try  ;  but  I  do 
not  promise  to  succeed,  for  the  greatest 
blessings  are  the  least  appreciable  by  the 
senses.  In  our  first  conversation  I  think 
you  told  me  that  you  could  not  think  of 
your  husband  as  alive,  as  a  man  in  the 
human  form,  possessing  all  the  knowledge 
and  affection  and  all  the  qualities  of  char- 
acter that  were  his  while  living  in  this 
world ;  that  he  was  living  among-  men 
and  women  in  a  substantial  world,  hold- 
ing- all  social  relations  and  living  a  real, 
conscious,  human  life." 

"  Yes ;  that  was  my  real  feeling.  It 
seemed  as  though  he  had  vanished  into  a 
formless  essence  and  was  lost  to  me  for- 
ever.     And  I  often  feel  so  still.      Some 


LOSING  LIFE.  GAINING  LIFE.  6 J 

things  you  have  said  have  given  me  a 
faint  hope  that  it  may  not  be  so  ;  that  he 
is  still  living  near  to  me,  and  that  I  shall 
yet  see  him  and  be  consciously  reunited 
with  him.  It  is  a  blessed  hope  which 
sometimes  gives  me  comfort,  though  I 
fear  it  may  be  a  delusion." 

"  It  leads  you  to  think  about  him  as 
alive  and  in  a  real  world,  does  it  not? 
In  other  words,  you  have  a  distinct  and 
substantial  object  in  your  mind  for  your 
thoughts  to  rest  upon?" 

"  Yes,  that  is  so ;  and  I  find  it  a  great 
help.  My  thoughts  do  not  wander  off 
and  vanish  into  indefinite  space.  And 
sometimes,  when  I  am  thinking  of  him, 
he  seems  to  be  near  me,  and  a  calm 
comes  over  my  perturbed  spirits  and  a 
new  power  takes  possession  of  me,  a 
power  which  I  have  never  felt  before." 

"Suppose  this   should  continue  to  in- 


68  CONSOLA  TION. 

crease  ;  suppose  what  is  now  a  hope  and 
an  occasional  feeling  should  become  a 
settled  conviction,  based  on  what  the 
Lord  has  revealed  in  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures, and  presented  in  a  form  to  produce 
rational  conviction  and  to  meet  every 
want  of  your  heart,  so  that  you  had  no 
more  doubts  about  the  substantial  nature 
and  life  of  the  spiritual  world  and  its  in- 
habitants than  you  have  of  this  world  !" 

"  But  can  such  a  delightful  state  ever  be 
attained  ?  It  seems  more  like  a  pleasant 
dream  than  a  reality,"  she  replied. 

"Yes;  it  has  been  attained,  and  it  can 
be  again.  You  have  caught  glimpses  of 
it  when  your  thoughts  and  affections  have 
risen  above  the  illusions  of  this  world. 
The  dearest  object  of  your  affections  has 
gone  there.  Make  it  real  to  you,  and 
you  have  a  distinct  object  in  that  world 
for  your  thoughts  to  rest  upon,  an  object 


LOSING   LIFE,   GAINING   LIFE.  69 

bound  to  you  by  the  strongest  and  ten- 
derest  affections,  which  will  exercise  a 
constant  and  powerful  attraction  to  draw 
your  thoughts  and  affections  there.  If 
your  husband  had  gone  to  England  or 
Australia,  a  keen  interest  would  be 
awakened  in  your  mind  to  know  as  much 
as  possible  about  those  countries." 

"I  know  it  would.  But  I  have  no 
means  of  learning  anything  about  the 
spiritual  world ;  and  while  I  try  to  think 
of  him  as  you  have  represented  him,  I 
find  it  very  difficult,  and  long 

'  for  the  touch  of  a  vanished  hand, 
And  the  sound  of  a  voice  that  is  still !'  " 

"  I  know  and  appreciate  the  feeling. 
But  the  more  you  reflect  upon  and 
become  familiarized  with  the  thought  of 
the  substantial  existence  of  the  spiritual 
world  and  of  the  vast  multitude  of  human 


JO  CONSOLA  TION. 

beings  who  have  o'one  there,  the  more 
real  it  will  become.  You  will  think  of  it 
as  your  future  home,  where  you  are  to 
live  forever,  and  find  your  society  and  the 
means  for  the  cultivation  of  your  affec- 
tions and  intellectual  faculties  and  happi- 
ness. You  will  have  gained  a  new  world 
and  a  new  state  of  life  to  think  about. 
With  this  knowledge  will  grow  upon  you 
the  supreme  importance  of  cultivating 
heavenly  affections  and  fitting  yourself 
for  association  with  the  pure  and  intelli- 
gent beings  who  have  gone  before  and 
will  come  after  you.  You  will  begin  to 
live  the  life  of  heaven  upon  the  earth. 
Suppose  this  temporary  bereavement  and 
conscious  separation  from  your  husband 
should  have  this  result.  Suppose,  which 
is  really  the  truth,  that  he  has  gone  before 
to  prepare  a  place  for  you,  a  more  beauti- 
ful home  than  any  one  on  earth  possesses, 


LOSING   LIFE,   GAINING   LIFE.  yl 

and  to  assist  you  in  developing  those 
qualities  of  character  which  will  fit  you  to 
occupy  it,  will  not  this  fully  compensate 
for  your  short  and  partial  separation  ? 
Will  not  the  separation,  painful  as  it  is, 
be  an  inestimable  blessing  to  you  ?" 

"  I  cannot  deny  that  it  would  be  if  all 
you  picture  should  come  to  pass.  But 
will  it,  will  it?  How  can  I  know  it? 
How  can  I  be  sure  of  it?" 

"It  will  if  you  do  your  part.  It  all  de- 
pends upon  you.  If  you  sit  here  secluded 
from  society,  cherishing  your  grief,  and 
perhaps  some  resentment  that  your  hus- 
band has  been  taken  from  you,  the  good 
will  not  come.  It  cannot  come  because 
you  close  your  mind  against  the  influences 
that  would  produce  this  effect.  You  must 
open  your  heart  to  these  affections ;  you 
must  try  to  keep  your  thoughts  upon  the 
means  of  rising  above  this  state  of  despair." 


72  CONS  OLA  TION. 

"  But  how  can  I  ?  They  will  sink  down 
to  it  in  spite  of  all  my  resolutions  and 
efforts." 

"You  cannot  change  your  thoughts  and 
affections  by  merely  willing.  Many  per- 
sons make  a  great  mistake  by  attempting 
to  do  it,  and  meet  with  great  disappoint- 
ments." 

"  How,  then,  can  they  be  changed  ? 
You  seem  to  demand  impossible  condi- 
tions," she  replied,  in  a  tone  of  despair. 

"  No,  I  do  not.  Feeling  and  thinking 
are  not  sufficient  to  accomplish  anything. 
You  could  not  get  out  of  your  chair  by 
feeling  you  would  like  to  do  so  and  think- 
ing about  it.  You  must  put  your  desire 
or  purpose  into  act.  You  must  do  some- 
thing. In  your  present  condition  you 
must  do  something  for  the  good  of  others, 
with  the  purpose  of  doing  them  good. 
That    is    a  heavenly   motive,   and    it  will 


LOSING  LIFE,  GAINING  LIFE.  yS 

bring  a  heavenly  influence  with  it,  an  in- 
fluence which  contains  in  itself  a  soothing', 
healing,  uplifting  power." 

"  But  what  can  I  do  ?  Some  sreat 
thing,  I  suppose.  I  haven't  the  means  or 
the  strength  to  do  that." 

"  Yes  ;  you  must  do  the  greatest  thing 
that  a  human  being  can  do." 

"  That  is  impossible.  There  is  no  hope 
for  me,  then  ;  I  cannot  think  deeply  and 
long  upon  any  subject.  There  is  but  little 
strength  in  my  hands.  I  could  not  speak 
in  public.     What  can  I  do?" 

"  The  greatest  and  the  easiest  thing  in 
the  world.  You  have  St.  Paul's  descrip- 
tion of  the  greatest  of  all  virtues.  Pro- 
fessor Drummond,  in  his  '  Greatest  Thing 
in  the  World,'  has  beautifully  and  clearly 
described  it." 

"  Oh,  yes  ;  it  is  charity,  or  love." 

"  Yes ;    that  is  the  greatest  thing  that 

D  7 


74  CONSOLA  TION. 

men  or  angels  do.  But  it  must  be  love 
that  is  not  only  felt.  It  must  be  clone. 
It  must  be  embodied  in  act.  It  must  bear 
good  fruit.  You  will  have  opportunities 
enough  to  do  that,  and,  instead  of  exhaust- 
ing, it  will  give  you  strength.  But  I  have 
said  too  much,  I  fear,  and  exhausted  your 
patience  if  I  have  not  your  strength.  So 
I  will  say  good-morning,  in  the  hope  that 
a  brighter  day  will  soon  come  to  you." 

As  I  rose  to  take  my  leave  she  said, 
"You  must  not  be  discouraged  with  me. 
You  have  given  me  much  to  think  about, 
and  I  will  try  to  keep  it  in  mind  and 
follow  your  advice." 

"  Have  no  fear  that  I  shall  be  discour- 
aged. It  will  give  me  pleasure  to  do  any- 
thing in  my  power  to  assist  you,  and  if 
at  any  time  I  speak  too  plainly,  you  must 
not  forget  that  it  is  from  the  kindest 
motives." 


CHAPTER   V. 

LIGHT    FROM   THE    GRAVE   OF   BURIED   HOPES. 


75 


"  Whosoever  therefore  shall  humble  himself  as  this 
little  child,  the  same  is  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven." 

"Take  heed  that  ye  despise  not  one  of  these  little 
ones;  for  I  say  unto  you,  That  in  heaven  their  angels 
do  always  behold  the  face  of  my  Father  which  is  in 
heaven." 

"  It  is  not  the  will  of  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven, 
that  one  of  these  little  ones  should  perish." — Matthew 
xviii.  4,  10,  14. 


76 


CHAPTER   V. 

LIGHT   FROM   THE    GRAVE   OF   BURIED    HOPES. 

I  did  not  see  Mrs.  Luce  again  for  some 
weeks.  I  thought  I  had  said  enough  to 
change  the  current  of  her  thoughts  and 
rouse  her  up  to  engage  in  the  duties  of 
life,  if  anything  I  could  say  would  do  it ; 
and  that  it  would  be  better  for  her  to  be 
left  to  her  own  determination  and  action. 
The  only  help  you  can  give  others  is  that 
which  leads  them  to  help  themselves. 
If  they  will  not  co-operate  with  you,  the 
wisest  instruction  is  of  no  avail. 

When  I  did  call  I  found  a  decided 
change  in  her  appearance.  There  was  a 
smile  upon  her  face  and  an  elasticity  in 
her  movements  and  a  strength  in  her 
voice  that  I  had  not  noticed  before. 

7*  77 


78  CONS  OLA  no  N. 

"I  am  glad  to  see  you,"  she  said, 
"especially  this  morning,  for  I  have  just 
come  from  a  call  upon  a  dear  friend  whom 
I  want  you  to  visit.  We  were  school- 
girls together  and  have  always  been  quite 
intimate.  It  was  only  yesterday  I  learned 
that  that  awful  scourge  diphtheria  had 
visited  her  little  Hock  and  taken  her  only 
son,  a  beautiful  boy  six  years  of  age,  from 
her  heart  and  home.  I  felt  as  though  I 
must  gfo  to  her,  though  I  have  not  been 
out  of  the  house  before  since  my  hus- 
band's  "  death,  she  was  going  to  say, 

but  checked  herself,  and  looking  up  with 
an  expression  in  her  face  which  meant 
more  than  words — "since  my  husband's 
resurrection,  you  would  say." 

"  That  is  truer  to  the  fact  than  the 
word  you  had  on  your  lips,"  I  replied. 

"  I  found  her  almost  frantic  with  grief. 
Do   you   know,  can   you    believe   it?    her 


BURIED    HOPES.  79 

minister  had  told  her  that  God  was  angry 
with  her  because  she  loved  her  son  more 
than  she  did  Him,  and  He  had  taken  him 
away  in  His  wrath  to  punish  her  for  her 
idolatry.  He  not  only  could  give  her  no 
comfort,  but  he  added  the  terrible  blow 
of  the  Divine  vengeance  to  her  already 
sorely  wounded  heart.  He  told  her  she 
must  repent  and  submit  to  the  chasten- 
ing rod  of  the  Almighty,  and  in  time  He 
would  heal  her  wounds  and  mitigate  her 
sorrow.  The  thought  that  her  love  for 
her  darlinor  child  had  been  the  real  cause 
of  his  death  drove  her  almost  to  mad- 
ness. 

"  '  What  shall  I  do  ?'  she  said.  '  How 
can  I  live  ?  My  darling  boy  has  been 
taken  from  me  ;  his  beautiful  form  buried 
in  the  cold  dark  ground,  and  all  the  bright 
promises  of  his  future  blasted  ;  and  then, 
that  it  was  because  I  loved  him  so  dearly ! 


80  CONSOLA  TION. 

Oh,  cruel  !  cruel  !  how  can  I  bear  it  ? 
Where  shall  I  go  for  comfort?  I  cannot 
go  to  the  Lord,  for  He  is  angry  with  me. 
I  cannot  get  any  consolation  from  my 
minister.  He  leaves  me  in  deeper  de- 
spair every  time  I  see  him.  I  cannot  bear 
it.  See  how  beautiful  he  was,'  she  said, 
uncovering  a  photograph  which  she  held 
in  her  hand.  '  Yes,  I  loved  him,  I  love 
him  now ;  but  this  is  all  that  is  left  of 
him.  This  lifeless  shadow  instead  of  the 
beautiful  form  glowing  with  life  and  hap- 
piness. I  love  him  ;  I  cannot  help  it.  Can 
it  be  a  sin  to  love  him  ?' 

"'No,'  I  replied,  'I  am  sure  it  cannot 
be.  The  Saviour  loved  little  children, 
and  took  them  up  in  His  arms  and 
blessed  them.  Surely  He  cannot  be 
angry  with  you  for  doing  what  He  did.' 

"  I  did  what  I  could  to  comfort  her.  I 
told  her  some  of  the  things  you  had  told 


BURIED   HOPES.  8 1 

me  as  well  as  I  could  recollect  them.  I 
tried  to  encourage  her  to  hope  that  she 
could  find  comfort  as  I  had  done.  I  told 
her  how  much  you  had  helped  me,  and 
asked  her  if  she  would  not  like  to  see 
you.  She  hesitated  at  first,  but  she  finally 
consented.  She  felt  the  need  of  help  so 
deeply  that  she  was  willing  to  seek  it 
from  any  source,  and  I  want  you  to  call 
upon  her." 

"  It  is  a  delicate  matter,"  I  said,  "  to  call 
upon  an  entire  stranger  under  the  cir- 
cumstances ;  but  I  will  do  it.  It  can  do 
her  no  harm,  and  I  may  possibly  say 
something  that  will  give  her  comfort  or 
show  her  where  she  can  find  it. 

"But  you  have  forgotten  yourself  in 
your  interest  in  your  friend." 

"Yes,  I  believe  I  have.  Her  condition 
seems  so  pitiful  I  cannot  keep  her  sad 
face  out  of  my  mind.  I  wish  I  could  do 
/ 


82  CONS  OLA  770  N. 

something-  to  relieve  her  of  the  crushing 
burden  of  her  sorrow,  or  if  that  is  im- 
possible, to  help  her  to  bear  it." 

"  Cherish  the  desire  and  some  way  will 
open  to  help  her.  Your  visit  will  do  her 
good.  It  will  break  up  or  modify  the 
train  of  her  thoughts,  and  that  is  a  neces- 
sary step  to  turning;  them  into  a  new 
channel.  In  doing  that  you  will  change 
your  own." 

"  I  have  not  thought  of  myself  in  the 
matter  at  all.  I  forgot  all  about  myself 
when  I  saw  the  depth  and  keenness  of 
her  sorrow." 

"That  makes  it  the  more  certain  that 
in  communicating  a  blessing  you  will  re- 
ceive one.  You  have  some  evidence  in 
this  event  of  the  truth  of  what  I  have  told 
you.  The  sure  way  to  get  comfort  is  to 
give  it.  It  will  never  fail.  It  is  according 
to  a  law  of  the  Divine  order,  '  Give,  and 


BURIED   HOPES.  83 

it  shall  be  given  unto  you.'  You  remember 
the  widow  who  had  nothing  in  her  house 
in  a  time  of  famine  '  save  a  pot  of  oil' 
The  prophet  commanded  her  to  borrow 
vessels  of  her  neighbors,  and  pour  out 
the  oil.  This  she  continued  to  do  until 
she  had  obtained  oil  sufficient  to  pay  all 
her  debtors  and  filled  all  the  vessels  she 
could  borrow  ;  then  only  the  oil  stayed. 
This  touching  miracle  embodies  a  univer- 
sal law.  Every  one  who  needs  our  love 
is  a  vessel  which  we  must  borrow  to  fill 
with  the  oil  of  love  from  our  own  pot. 
The  more  vessels  we  can  borrow  the 
better.  As  long  as  we  continue  to  pour 
out,  the  oil  will  flow,  and  we  shall  have 
enough  for  our  own  wants  and  all  claims 
upon  us.  Your  friend  is  a  vessel  and  you 
are  filling  her  hearfwith  the  oil  of  love, 
and  it  will  assuage  her  sorrow  and  heal 
her  wounded   affections.      You  will    find 


84  CONS  OLA  TIO  N. 

other  vessels  '  not  a  few'  which  you  can 
borrow  for  the  same  purpose.  Indeed, 
you  will  never  want  for  vessels  to  receive 
your  love  if  you  seek  for  them,  and  this 
we  must  all  do  if  we  would  become  en- 
riched ourselves." 

"  But  I  do  not  see  how  we  become 
enriched  by  giving  to  others.  I  should 
think  we  should  be  impoverished  by  it." 

"  No ;  as  we  give  to  others  the  Lord 
gives  to  us.  Life  is  a  stream  which  con- 
stantly flows  into  us  from  the  Lord.  It  is 
like  the  air  we  breathe.  Its  reception 
gives  life,  sets  all  our  faculties  in  motion, 
and  oives  us  strength  to  do  our  work. 
The  more  we  give  to  others  the  more  the 
Lord  can  give  to  us.  Our  affections  and 
all  our  intellectual  faculties  become  en- 
larged and  perfected.  We  can  receive 
more  love  and  of  a  more  precious  quality. 
We  gain  in  every  way  by  giving  love  to 


BURIED   I/O  PES.  85 

others.  We  are  not  impoverished,  we 
are  enriched  by  giving-.  If  you  had  re- 
mained shut  up  in  your  room  and  con- 
tinued to  brood  over  your  sorrow  you 
would  have  closed  your  mind  against  the 
Lord's  love  and  prevented  Him  from  heal- 
ing your  wounded  affections  and  giving 
you  comfort  and  hope." 

"  Do  I  understand  you  to  say  that  the 
Lord  is  constantly  giving  us  His  love  and 
trying  to  help  us  out  of  our  troubles  and 
make  us  happy?  Is  He  doing  it  now,  this 
minute,  to  me?" 

"  Certainly.  Does  not  He  give  us  the 
air  we  breathe,  and  the  light  which  en- 
ables us  to  see  the  world  around  us  and 
the  faces  of  our  friends  ?  Everything 
that  is  good  is  the  Lord's  gift  to  us." 

"  But  the  air  and  the  sun  and  the  earth 
were  once  created  and  remain." 

"They  would  not,  however,  if  the  Lord 


86  CONSOLA  TION. 

did  not  create  them  every  moment.  We 
will  not  discuss  this  deep  subject  now, 
however.  I  have  alluded  to  it  because  it 
will  help  us  to  do  our  work  and  bear  our 
sorrows  to  believe  that  the  Lord  is  a 
'  present  help  in  trouble.'  That  He  is, 
every  moment,  doing  all  He  can  for  the 
happiness  of  every  one.  The  only  limit 
to  His  bounty  is  our  willingness  and  our 
capacity  to  receive." 

"  Willingness  to  receive?  Can  any  one 
be  unwilling  to  receive  blessings  from 
Him?  That  seems  impossible.  How 
can  any  one  be  so  foolish  ?" 

"We  all  are  in  some  respects,  because 
His  blessings  do  not  come  in  the  form  we 
expect  and  desire  them.  May  I  give  your 
own  case  as  an  illustration  ?  You  have 
had  a  hard  struggle  to  believe  that  com- 
fort  could  come  to  you  by  giving  comfort 
to  others.     But  you  have  found  it  to  be 


BURIED   HOPES.  Sy 

so  in  some  measure,  and  the  more  you 
practise  it  the  more  you  will  find  the  truth 
of  it  in  your  own  happy  experience." 

"  How  differently  you  do  present  every- 
thing" from  what  I  have  been  accustomed 
to  hear!  Your  ideas  are  so  new  and 
stranoe  that  it  will  take  time  to  become 
familiar  with  them.  But  they  do  seem 
rational,  and  they  are  so  helpful  and  com- 
forting. I  shall  think  of  them  ;  I  cannot 
help  it.  But  every  new  idea  awakens 
others,  and  suggests  no  end  of  questions 
I  desire  to  ask." 

"Ask  as  many  as  you  please.  I  will 
answer  all  I  can. 

"  But  we  must  not  forget  your  friend. 
What  arrangements  shall  we  make  for 
my  calling  upon  her?" 

"  I  will  see  her  to-morrow,  and  I  will 
write  and  let  you  know  when  it  will  be  con- 
venient for  her  to  receive  a  visit  from  you." 


88  CONS  OLA  TION. 

"  Very  well ;  set  the  time,  and  I  will 
call,  unless  prevented  by  some  necessary 
engagement." 

I  called  in  a  few  days,  for  I  desired  to 
help  the  despairing-  mother  as  soon  as 
possible.  I  do  not  know  when  I  have 
seen  a  sadder  face  or  met  a  more  crushed 
and  despairing-  spirit.  The  poor,  be- 
reaved mother  received  me  in  an  indif- 
ferent, passive  manner,  as  though  she  took 
no  interest  in  my  visit  and  had  only 
consented  to  it  at  the  solicitation  of  her 
friend,  but  with  no  expectation  of  deriving 
any  comfort  from  it.  She  replied  to  my 
questions  in  monosyllables  with  a  feeble 
voice,  and  the  prospect  of  getting  access 
to  her  mind  was  not  in  the  least  favor- 
able. She  shrunk  from  every  approach 
as  though  she  expected  to  receive  a  blow. 
I  knew  that  the  dear  boy  of  whom  she 
had  been  bereaved  was  the  only  subject 


BURIED   HOPES.  89 

in  which  she  was  interested,  and  I  began 
to  make  some  inquiries  about  his  appear- 
ance and  her  hopes  with  regard  to  his 
future  life. 

"  Mrs.  Luce  says,"  I  remarked,  "  that 
your  son  was  a  bright  and  beautiful  child, 
and  gave  promise  of  becoming  an  intel- 
ligent and  useful  man." 

"Yes,  indeed,  he  did,"  she  replied. 
"  He  was  in  some  respects  very  preco- 
cious. He  had  a  sweet  and  gentle  dispo- 
sition which  won  all  hearts  and  made  him 
the  light  and  joy  of  the  house." 

"  I  suppose  you  intended  to  give  him  a 
good  education  and  fit  him  for  any  posi- 
tion that  might  be  open  to  him." 

"  Oh,  yes  :  a  mother  has  her  dreams. 
How  vain  and  disappointing  they  are !" 

"  Perhaps  they  are  not  so  much  so  in 
your  case  as  you  suppose." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?     Is  not  my  dar- 

8* 


QO  CONSOLA  TION. 

ling  boy  dead  and  all  the  bright  hopes  of 
his  life  blasted  ?" 

"  That  may  be  the  appearance,  but  it  is 
not  so  in  reality.  Your  boy  is  not  dead  ; 
on  the  contrary,  he  is  more  alive  than 
ever;  and  your  brightest  hopes  with  re- 
gard to  him  will  be  more  than  fulfilled, 
though  not  in  the  way  you  expected." 

"  I  do  not  think  I  know  what  you 
mean,"  she  replied,  looking  up  to  me  for 
the  first  time. 

"  It  is  not  possible  in  this  world  for  chil- 
dren to  grow  up  to  be  men  and  women, 
even  in  the  most  favorable  conditions," 
I  said,  "without  being  subject  to  sickness 
and  physical  suffering.  Success  cannot 
be  gained  in  any  business  or  profession 
without  severe  labor  and  many  struggles 
and  disappointments." 

"  I  know  that,  and  I  have  feared  for  my 
dear  boy  when  I  have  thought  of  it.     1 


BURIED   HOPES.  QI 

see  so  many  who  lose  their  money  or 
never  gain  it,  whose  health  is  ruined,  and 
if  they  succeed  in  one  respect  they  lose 
in  another.  Life  is  such  a  terrible 
struggle." 

"Your  boy  will  gain  all  you  could  ask 
for  him  in  these  respects  without  severe^ 
labor  or  painful  struggle  or  any  possibility 
of  loss.  He  will  never  suffer  from  dis- 
ease. He  will  not  have  an  ache  or  a  pain 
or  a  disappointment  of  any  kind." 

"  Neither  does  a  stone,"  she  replied, 
with  emphasis.  "  How  can  he  when  he 
is  buried  in  the  ground  and  has  lost  all 
consciousness  and  life?" 

"  I  see  your  thought  follows  him  to  the 
grave  and  rests  there.  But  he  does  not. 
He  was  not  deposited  there.  It  was  only 
the  earthly  garment  which  clothed  him 
that  was  laid  away  in  the  ground." 

"  But  I  cannot  follow  him  beyond  that. 


92  CONSOLA  TION. 

I  cannot  think  of  a  spirit  which  has  no 
form.  There  is  no  object  for  the  thought 
to  rest  upon.  There  is  no  beauty,  no 
substance.  It  is  nothing  but  a  breath  or 
a  vapor  which  vanishes  away.  A  breath 
or  a  vapor  or  a  formless  essence  could 
.not  be  ill  or  suffer  or  enjoy.  My  boy  was 
so  beautiful  and  active,  so  intelligent  and 
happy.  A  pure  spirit  is  not  my  darling. 
If  he  cannot  suffer  he  cannot  love  and 
enjoy." 

"  What  you  say  is  true  if  a  spirit  is 
what  you  conceive  it  to  be.  But  it  is  not. 
The  spirit  is  in  the  human  form.  The 
spirit  is  composed  of  all  the  organs  which 
combined  constitute  the  human  being. 
The  spirit  is  the  seat  of  all  the  affections 
and  intellectual  faculties  which  make  us 
human  beings.  It  gives  form  to  the  body 
both  in  general  and  every  least  particular. 
The  truth  about  the  relative   substantial 


BURIED  HOPES.  93 

nature  of  the  body  and  the  spirit  is  ex- 
actly the  reverse  of  common  opinion. 
The  spirit  is  the  permanent  and  substan- 
tial being.  The  body  is  merely  the  tem- 
porary clothing-,  and  soon  turns  to  dust, 
while  the  spirit  retains  its  form  and  per- 
manent existence.  The  change  we  call 
death  is  simply  the  resurrection  or  with- 
drawal of  the  spirit  from  the  material 
body  which  clothed  it.  If  you  could  see 
your  boy  as  he  is  now  you  would  see  him 
in  the  same  form,  with  the  same  beautiful 
face,  glowing  with  love  and  life,  if  any- 
thing, brighter  and  lovelier  and  more 
joyous  than  ever.  You  would  find  the 
same  love  for  you,  the  same  intelligence. 
If  he  could  speak  to  you  he  would  say, 
'  Oh,  mamma,  don't  grieve  so.  I  am  not 
dead ;  I  am  more  alive  than  ever.  I  am 
not  in  the  ground  ;  I  am  in  a  world  a 
thousand  times  more  beautiful   than  the 


94  CONS  OLA  TION. 

earth.  It  is  far  brighter,  and  everything 
is  more  lovely.  I  have  a  delightful  home 
and  pleasant  companions,  and  everything 
is  clone  to  make  me  happy.  I  am  well 
and  strong;,  and  find  new  things  to  interest 
me  every  day.  I  have  delightful  teachers, 
and  it  seems  so  easy  to  learn.  The 
lessons  are  about  live  and  interesting 
things.  If  you  knew  how  happy  I  am 
you  would  not  grieve.'  " 

"  Oh,  if  I  could  only  see  him  and  hear 
his  sweet  and  joyous  voice  and  know  for 
certain  that  what  you  say  is  true,  it  would 
be  such  a  comfort !  Can  it  be  true  ? 
How  can  it  be?" 

"  Yes,  it  can  be  true,  and  it  is  true. 
How  can  it  be  otherwise  ?  Is  it  not  more 
rational  and  more  in  accordance  with  the 
Lord's  love  and  wisdom  than  the  idea  that 
he  has  become  a  formless  essence  which 
cannot  love  or  think  or  feel  and  is  flitting 


BURIED   HOPES.  95 

about  in  a  dark  and  formless  world  like  a 
wandering  cloud?  When  our  Lord  said, 
'  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me, 
and  forbid  them  not ;  for  of  such  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,'  did  He  not  mean 
something  more  than  that  they  were  to 
be  dissipated  into  formless  vapors  or 
buried  in  the  ground?  When  He  said, 
'  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  man- 
sions. ...  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you 
.  .  .  that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also,' 
did  He  mean  that  we  were  eoino-  into 
empty  space,  and  to  lose  our  form  and  our 
power  to  love  and  know  and  enjoy  and 
all  the  means  of  happiness  ?  Can  any- 
thing be  more  absurd  than  that?" 

"  It  would  certainly  be  delightful  to 
believe  what  you  say,"  she  replied,  with 
some  emotion. 

"  Well,  believe  it,  or  at  least  hope  and 
think  that  it  is  true.     Think  of  your  little 


96  CONS  OLA  TION. 

son  as  alive  and  placed  in  circumstances 
better  fitted  in  every  respect  to  escape  all 
pain  and  disappointment  and  sorrow  than 
you  could  have  procured  for  him  if  you 
had  the  wealth  and  wisdom  and  power  of 
the  world,  and  the  best  means  to  develop 
pure  affections  and  all  his  intellectual 
faculties." 

"  How  can  I  ?  I  have  been  taught  so 
different." 

"I  know  it  is  harder  to  unlearn  than  to 
learn,  but  I  think  you  can  compel  your- 
self to  look  at  the  bright  picture,  and  I 
am  sure  you  will  find  great  comfort  in  it. 
I  leave  it  with  you.  Think  of  it.  There 
certainly  are  as  good  reasons  for  believing 
it  to  be  true  as  there  are  for  believing  the 
common  dark  and  doleful  one,  when  those 
who  teach  it  say  they  do  not  really  know 
anything  about  the  spirit  or  the  spiritual 
world." 


BURIED   HOPES.  g? 

As  I  rose  to  go  she  said,  "  You  have 
given  me  a  new  view  of  the  subject  which 
I  shall  think  about.  But  I  find  many 
questions  rising  in  my  mind  which  I 
would  like  to  ask  you.  Will  you  not  call 
again  and  give  me  an  opportunity  to  ask 
them  ?" 

"  Certainly,  whenever  it  will  be  agree- 
able to  you,"  I  replied. 

"  I  am  afraid  I  may  be  a  little  impatient 
in  my  present  state  of  mind.  Can  you 
come  to-morrow  ?" 

"  I  have  an  engagement  which  will  pre- 
vent my  seeing  you  to-morrow.  But  I 
will  come  the  next  day  unless  prevented 
by  some  special  demand  for  my  services." 

e      g  9 


CHAPTER    VI. 

FINDING    THE    LOST   ONE. 


99 


"  Suffer  the  little  children  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid 
them  not ;  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  God. 

"Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Whosoever  shall  not  receive 
the  kingdom  of  God  as  a  little  child,  he  shall  not  enter 
therein." — Mark  x.  14,  15. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

FINDING    THE    LOST    ONE. 

I  found  the  bereaved  mother  in  much 
the  same  state  of  mind  as  when  I  left  her. 

"  I  have  been  thinking  and  thinking," 
she  said,  "  about  my  dear  boy,  and  trying 
to  make  real  the  beautiful  picture  of  him 
you  gave  me.  But  the  terrible  change 
from  life  to  death  which  I  saw  is  impressed 
so  vividly  upon  my  mind  that  I  cannot 
think  of  anything  else.  I  cannot  look 
beyond  the  grave  and  conceive  of  him  as 
alive  and  active  as  he  was  before  his  fatal 
illness.  And  my  heart  does  so  ache  to 
see  him  once  more.  It  seems  as  though 
I  could  not  bear  it.  I  try,  but  I  cannot 
force  myself  to  think  of  him  as  alive  and 
well  and  happy,  as  you  say  he  is." 

9*  IOI 


102  CONSOLATION. 

"I  know  you  cannot  force  your  mind 
to  change  all  its  thoughts  and  opinions  by 
a  direct  action  of  the  will.  It  will  take 
time.  But  we  do  change  our  opinions 
upon  many  subjects  when  we  see  good 
reasons  for  doing  it,  and  it  can  be  done 
upon  this.  We  must  look  for  the  reasons, 
and  we  must  reflect  upon  them  and  make 
them  familiar  to  our  minds.  It  requires 
time  and  some  determination  of  the  will 
to  consider  the  new  views.  This  is  more 
difficult  where  the  natural  affections  are 
deeply  involved,  as  in  your  case.  They 
draw  our  thoughts  to  the  object  of  interest 
and  tend  to  hold  them  there." 

"  How  can  I  think  of  anything  else 
than  my  dear  boy?  He  was  a  part  of 
my  life." 

"  Don't  say  was  a  part  of  your  life. 
He  has  become  a  part  of  your  life  and 
will   always   remain   so.      You   need    not 


FINDING    THE  LOST  ONE.  103 

try  to  forget  him.  You  cannot  do  that. 
You  need  not  try  to  eradicate  him  from 
your  affections.  You  need  only  to  change 
the  way  you  think  of  him.  You  take  it 
for  granted  now  that  he  is  no  longer 
yours.  You  speak  of  him  as  lost,  as 
dead.  You  think  of  him  as  turning  to 
dust  and  vanishing  away.  But  he  is  not 
lost;  he  is  not  tu miner  to  dust;  he  has 
not  lost  his  form  or  his  intelligence  or  his 
power  to  love,  to  know,  and  to  enjoy. 
He  is  as  much  your  child  as  he  ever  was. 
He  has  only  gone  to  another  place,  where 
he  will  find  everything  that  can  conduce  to 
the  development  of  all  his  faculties,  and 
where  he  will  be  free  from  all  the  hinder- 
ances  and  evils  and  dangers  to  which  he 
would  have  been  liable  if  he  had  remained 
in  this  world.  He  was  never  so  much 
alive  as  he  is  now,  never  so  happy,  never 
so  eager  to  learn,  and  never  saw  so  many 


104  CONS  OLA  TION. 

beautiful  objects  to  attract  his  attention, 
awaken  his  curiosity,  and  delight  his  heart. 
He  is  nearer  to  you  than  ever  before. 
He  has  not  gone  away  from  you,  and  if 
you  do  not  close  your  heart  against  him 
he  never  will." 

"  Oh,  I  never  could  do  that.  How  can 
you  think  so  ?" 

"  But  you  do  by  thinking  of  him  as 
dead,  as  lost,  and  no  more  your  son. 
You  annihilate  him  in  your  thoughts  and 
mourn  over  him  as  forever  lost.  Is  not 
this  the  cause  of  your  grief?  Like  Ra- 
chel, you  will  not  be  comforted  because 
he  is  not." 

"But  how  can  I  help  it?  I  cannot  see 
him  or  hear  his  pleasant  voice  ;  I  can- 
not feel  the  pressure  of  his  warm  em- 
brace. He  does  not  come  to  me  with 
joy  in  his  eyes  to  tell  of  his  little  pleas- 
ures  or  ask   for  some   little   favor.     His 


FINDING    THE  LOST  ONE.  105 

absence  makes  the  whole  house  silent  and 
empty." 

"  It  is   true  he  is   not  present  to  your 
senses.      He  would  not  be  if  he  had  gone 
away  to  school,  where  you   would  prob 
ably  have  sent  him  in  a  few  years." 

"  But  he  would  have  come  back  again, 
and  I  should  have  seen  him  and  heard  his 
joyous  laugh  and  felt  the  pressure  of  his 
hands.     Now  he  cannot  come  back." 

"That  is  true.  He  cannot  come  to 
your  natural  senses,  and  therefore  you 
say  he  is  dead.  You  make  your  senses 
the  test  and  limit  of  life.  The  Lord  does 
not  come  to  your  senses.  You  cannot 
hear  the  voices  or  see  the  forms  of  the 
angels,  and  they  are  the  most  substantial 
and  powerful  beings  in  the  universe.  The 
prevalent  opinions  and  feelings  about  the 
human  spirit  are  all  false.  The  spirit  is 
the  real  person.     It  is  the  seat  and  sub- 


106  CONS  OLA  TION. 

ject  of  all  our  thoughts  and  affections. 
All  our  power  and  life  reside  in  the  spirit. 
It  organized  the  body,  and  gives  form  and 
life  to  it.  The  body  is  only  its  clothing 
and  instrument  by  which  it  can  live  and 
perform  uses  in  the  material  world.  When 
the  spirit  leaves  it,  the  body  loses  all  its 
power  and  becomes  dust.  We  must  turn 
our  thoughts  from  the  body  to  the  spirit, 
and  think  of  that  as  the  real  person  which 
is  to  live  forever.  Think  of  your  boy  as 
alive  in  the  form  in  which  you  have  known 
him.  Look  up  from  the  earth,  and  think 
of  him  in  the  new  world  he  has  en- 
tered, and  in  which  he  is  to  find  his  home 
forever.  He  will  grow  up  to  be  a  noble, 
pure,  and  intelligent  man,  free  from  all 
the  stains  and  imperfections  of  this  life 
and  the  hindrances  and  burdens  of  a 
material  body." 

"  Grow  up  to  manhood,  do  you  say  ? 


FINDING    THE  LOST  ONE.  107 

Then  I  shall  lose  my  beautiful  boy,  and  I 
never  shall  know  him  even  if  I  should  see 
him." 

"  Yes,  you  will ;  you  will  see  him  and 
know  him.  Would  you  wish  to  have  kept 
him  a  child  if  he  had  remained  in  this 
world  ?" 

"Of  course  I  should  not.  It  would 
have  been  a  delight  to  see  him  grow  up 
into  manly  stature  and  strength." 

"  Yes ;  you  would  have  regarded  it  as 
a  great  calamity  if  he  had  stopped  grow- 
ing and  remained  a  child.  Would  it  not 
be  as  great  a  calamity  to  him  to  have  re- 
mained so  forever  in  the  spiritual  world  ? 
A  large  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
spiritual  world  entered  it  as  infants  and 
children.  What  a  terrible  misfortune  it 
would  be  to  them  to  remain  in  that  con- 
dition forever!  There  would  be  just 
occasion   for   sorrow  when  a  little   child 


108  CONSOLATION. 

departed  from  this  life,  if  it  were  to  re- 
main in  the  helpless  and  undeveloped 
condition  forever." 

"  I  had  not  thought  of  that.  I  wanted 
to  see  my  boy  just  as  he  was  when  he 
left  us.  But  I  know  it  would  be  sad 
indeed  if  he  were  forever  to  remain  as  a 
child.  But  I  did  not  think  that  he  could 
grow." 

"  It  is  the  spirit  that  grows  even  in  this 
world.  If  it  did  not,  the  body  would 
remain  a  helpless  infant.  The  spirit 
weaves  the  body  around  itself  of  the  sub- 
stances we  eat.  The  body  does  not  grow 
when  the  spirit  leaves  it.  This  is  conclu- 
sive evidence  that  it  is  the  spirit  alone 
which  possesses  power  and  life.  If  you 
will  regard  human  beings  as  spirits,  simply 
clothed  in  a  material  body,  you  will  see 
evidences  of  the  truth  of  the  fact  every 
day.      It  will  give  you  comfort  in  your 


FINDING    THE  LOST  ONE.  IO9 

bereavement,  and  oive  a  new  meaning 
to  life  in  this  world.  Above  all,  it  will 
entirely  change  your  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings about  the  departure  of  friends  and 
dear  ones  from  this  world.  You  will  see 
that  it  is  not  a  punishment  inflicted  upon 
men  for  their  sins,  but  a  regular  and 
orderly  step  in  life,  as  orderly  and  essen- 
tial to  man's  complete  happiness  as  birth 
into  this  world  is.  It  is  a  birth  into  the 
spiritual  world,  where  our  spiritual  facul- 
ties awake  to  activity  and  consciousness 
as  our  natural  faculties  do  when  we  are 
born  into  this  world.  What  people  call 
death  and  mourn  over  as  the  direst 
calamity  that  could  befall  them  or  their 
friends,  is  indeed  the  greatest  blessing, 
and,  when  understood,  is  one  of  the  clear- 
est manifestations  of  the  Lord's  infinite 
love  and  wisdom.  Think  of  it  in  this 
large  and  impersonal  way,  and  you  will 


1 1 0  CONS  OLA  TION. 

not  only  find  much  to  comfort  you  in  your 
natural  bereavement,  but  you  will  find 
evidences  of  the  Lord's  love  for  you  and 
your  dear  boy  that  will  help  you  to  see  that 
He  will  bless  you  as  much  in  the  removal 
of  your  son  from  his  earthly  to  his  heav-  v 
enly  home  as  He  did  in  giving  him  to  you." 

"  I  cannot  see  what  reason  there  can  be 
for  blessing  the  Lord  for  such  a  terrible 
affliction.  He  must  have  taken  my  boy 
away  to  punish  me  for  loving  him  so 
dearly.  That  is  one  of  the  most  terrible 
thoughts  about  his  death,  I  could  not 
help  loving  him.  How  could  I  ?  he  was  so 
lovely  and  beautiful." 

"  Then  don't  think  of  it  for  a  moment, 
for  it  is  utterly  false.  Your  love  for  your 
child  was  the  Lord's  gift.  Could  He 
punish  you  for  doing  what  He  created 
you  to  do  and  gave  you  the  power  to  do, 
and  what  He  Himself  does  ?" 


FINDING    THE  LOST  ONE.  Ill 

"Why,  then,  did  He  take  him  away 
from  me  ?" 

"  He  did  not.  He  never  takes  away 
any  blessing  from  us.  He  did  not  cause 
his  illness.  You  know  how  it  came.  He 
does  not  cause  any  pain  or  sorrow  of  any 
kind.  A  Being  of  infinite  love  and  wis- 
dom can  only  love,  and  do  everything  in 
His  power  to  make  His  children  happy. 
He  permits  pain  and  sorrow  to  come 
upon  us  because  He  cannot  prevent  it; 
but  He  never  causes  it.  And  when  they 
do  come,  He  does  all  in  His  power  to 
bring  as  much  good  out  of  them  as  pos- 
sible." 

"  I  do  not  see  what  good  can  come  to 
me  from  this  terrible  bereavement." 

"  I  presume  you  cannot  now,  but  the 
time  may  come  when  you  will." 

"  Do  tell  me  what  possible  good  can 
come  from  so  great  and  painful  a  loss  !" 


112  CONSOLATION. 

"  It  may  lead  you  to  think  more  truly 
concerning- your  relation  to  your  children, 
and,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  concern- 
ing your  ownership  in  them." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  Are  they  not 
mine  r 

"Yes,  and  no.  They  belong  to  you 
in  preference  to  any  other  person.  You 
have  the  claim  of  motherhood,  a  claim 
which  no  one  can  dispute.  It  is  one 
of  the  dearest  and  most  intimate  re- 
lations that  one  human  being:  can  sus- 
tain  to  another.  But  still  you  have  no 
inherent  and  exclusive  right  to  your  chil- 
dren. They  are  the  Lord's.  He  created 
and  gave  them  to  you  to  nurture  and 
train  up  for  heaven.  To  make  the  care 
and  labor,  which  is  often  very  severe,  as 
pleasant  as  possible,  He  gave  you  your 
mother's  love  for  them,  which  makes  your 
care  and   labor  a  delight.     He   rewards 


FIX  DING    THE  LOST  ONE.  113 

you  for  this  service  whenever  you  render 
it.  You  did  not  originate  your  love  for 
your  children.'' 

"Why,  then,  does  He  take  them  away 
so  that  we  cannot  love  them?" 

"  He  does  not  take  them  away,  as  I 
have  told  you.  You  do  not  think  that 
He  takes  them  away  when  they  become 
of  age  and  marry  and  leave  their  home. 
It  is  a  wise  and  universal  law  of  the 
Divine  order  that  children  leave  their 
parents,  that  families  be  dissolved,  and 
natural  ties  severed.  Disease  often  makes 
the  separation  premature  ;  but  the  sepa- 
ration itself  is  inevitable,  and  it  is  carry- 
ing out  the  great  purpose  of  the  Lord's 
infinite  love  and  wisdom." 

"  Do  you  mean  that  death  or,  as  you 
call  it,  departure  from  this  world  is  carry- 
ing out  the  purposes  of  the  Divine  love?" 

"  Yes,   certainly  I  do  ;  as  truly  as  the 

h  10* 


114  CONSOLATION. 

springing  up  of  the  seed  from  the  ground 
in  which  it  is  planted  is  in  accordance 
with  the  Lord's  purpose  in  providing  man 
with  food  and  the  materials  for  clothing. 
The  spiritual  world  is  man's  home.  He 
was  made  to  live  in  it,  and  it  is  superior  to 
this  world  in  every  respect.  It  is  as  much 
more  excellent  than  the  material  world  in 
every  form,  substance,  and  quality  as  the 
air  and  light,  and  the  kingdoms  of  nature, 
and  all  the  conditions  necessary  to  the 
development  of  a  bird's  faculties  and  the 
attainment  of  its  joys  are  to  the  egg  in 
which  it  was  created.  But  the  bird  could 
not  get  into  this  new  world  without  leaving 
that." 

"  You  do  present  everything  so  differ- 
ently from  what  I  have  been  taught  that 
I  hardly  know  what  to  think.  You  rep- 
resent death,  which  every  one  regards  as 
the  greatest  calamity,  to  be   the  greatest 


FINDING    THE  LOST  ONE.  115 

blessing.  It  is  a  delightful  belief,  and 
must  be  a  great  comfort  to  those  who 
accept  it." 

"  I  hope  you  will  find  good  reasons 
for  doing  so.  I  am  sure  you  will,  if 
you  earnestly  seek  for  them.  They  are 
abundant  enough  in  the  Bible  and  in 
everything  around  us  in  nature.  The 
more  you  examine  the  subject,  the  more 
abundant  and  convincing  you  will  find 
them,  and  the  more  comfort  and  help  you 
will  derive  from  them.  But  whatever  you 
do,  never  think  of  your  boy  as  dead.  He 
is  more  alive  than  ever.  Do  not  cease 
to  love  him.  He  is  as  much  your  child 
now  as  he  ever  was.  Think  of  him  as  a 
treasure  laid  up  in  heaven,  and  'where 
your  treasure  is,  there  will  your  heart  be 
also.'  If  you  do  this,  you  will  find  that 
the  transplanting  of  your  little  son  from 
the    nursery   on    earth    to    the    paradise 


Il6  CONSOLATION. 

above  will  be  a  great  blessing-  to  you. 
You  will  not  think  of  him  as  lost  in  any 
sense,  but  as  saved  beyond  any  possibility 
of  failure  in  obtaining  the  largest  meas- 
ure  of  a  noble  life  and  the  greatest  happi- 
ness possible  for  him  to  receive  and  en- 
joy. You  will  delight  to  think  of  him  as 
having  gone  to  school  in  heaven  with 
angels  for  his  teachers.  You  will  thank 
the  Lord  for  permitting  you  to  be  instru- 
mental in  giving  existence  to  a  human 
being  who  is  to  be  the  subject  of  so 
much  joy  and  happiness. 

"  But  I  fear  I  have  wearied  you  with 
such  a  prolonged  talk.  The  subject  is  so 
interesting,  and  seems  to  me  so  important 
and  consoling-  to  the  bereaved,  that  I  do 
not  know  when  to  stop." 

"I  am  not  in  the  least  weary.  The 
thoughts  you  have  presented  are  entirely 
new  to  me,  and  so  comforting  that  I  can- 


FINDING    THE  LOST  ONE.  117 

not  but  be  interested.  I  shall  think  of 
what  you  have  said,  and  I  am  sure  I  shall 
find  some  light  and  comfort  from  it.  But 
these  new  views  ot  our  relation  to  our 
children  give  rise  to  so  many  questions, 
I  would  like  to  ask  that  you  will  call 
again  when  your  duties  will  permit." 

Promising  to  do  so,  I  bade  her  good- 
morning,  with  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
her  face  much  brio-hter,  and  the  feeline 
that  her  thoughts  were  turning  away 
from  death  to  life,  and  from  the  sepulchre 
to  heaven. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

FROM    APPARENT   TO    TRUE    RICHES. 


119 


"  A  little  that  a  righteous  man  hath  is  better  than  the 
riches  of  many  wicked." — Psalm  xxxvii.  16. 

"  Because  thou  sayest,  I  am  rich,  and  increased  with 
goods,  and  have  need  of  nothing ;  and  knowest  not 
that  thou  art  wretched,  and  miserable,  and  poor,  and 
blind,  and  naked  : 

"  I  counsel  thee  to  buy  of  me  gold  tried  in  the  fire, 
that  thou  mayest  be  rich  ;  and  white  raiment,  that  thou 
mayest  be  clothed,  and  that  the  shame  of  thy  nakedness 
do  not  appear  ;  and  anoint  thine  eyes  with  eyesalve,  that 
thou  mayest  see." — Revelation  iii.  17,  18. 

"  If  therefore  ye  have  not  been  faithful  in  the  un- 
righteous mammon,  who  will  commit  to  your  trust  the 
true  riches  ?" — Luke  xvi.  1 1. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

FROM    APPARENT   TO   TRUE    RICHES. 

On  my  return  home  I  found  a  note 
from  my  friend  Mrs.  Luce  requesting  me 
to  call,  as  she  wanted  to  ask  me  some 
questions  and  needed  assistance.  I  did 
not  know  whether  the  help  she  needed 
was  for  herself  or  others.  I  hoped  it  was 
for  others,  but  it  was  possible  that  one 
of  her  old  doubts  was  tormenting  her 
again.  I  was  glad  to  learn  that  my  fears 
were  groundless.  When  I  called  at  the 
appointed  time  she  greeted  me  cordially. 
Her  face  was  glowing  with  subdued  but 
lively  interest,  which  showed  that  she  was 
entering  upon  a  new  and  higher  state  of 
life. 

"  I  have  another  patient  for  you,"  she 


1 22  CONSOLA  TION. 

said,  "  and  I  hope  you  will  be  as  success- 
ful in  treating  her  as  you  have  been  with 
me  and  some  others." 

"  Well,"  I  replied,  "  there  is  a  balm  for 
every  wound.  There  is  not  so  much 
difficulty  in  finding-  the  right  remedy  as 
there  is  in  getting  the  patient  to  take  it. 
But  who  is  the  patient,  and  what  calamity 
has  befallen  her  ?" 

"  She  is  an  old  school-mate,  with  whom 
I  have  been  upon  intimate  terms  for 
many  years.  Her  name  is  Brown  ;  she 
married  a  rich  man  and  has  lived  in  great 
affluence  all  her  life.  But  her  husband 
has  lost  all  his  property  in  some  great 
commercial  enterprise,  and  they  are  now 
reduced  to  poverty.  I  tried  to  comfort 
her,  but  found  her  case  entirely  beyond 
my  power,  and  so,  with  her  permission,  I 
have  come  to  you,  and  I  hope  you  can  do 
something  to  help  her  in  this  great  crisis 


FROM  APPARENT  TO    TRUE  RICHES.     1 23 

in  her  life.  She  will  see  you  at  any  time 
when  you  have  the  leisure  to  call." 

"  This  is  a  case  I  am  not  familiar  with," 
I  replied  ;  "  but  the  remedy  is  the  same 
for  disappointment  and  sorrow  from  what- 
ever cause  it  may  arise.  It  is  of  universal 
application,  and  never  fails  of  a  cure 
when  the  directions  are  faithfully  fol- 
lowed." 

"You  have  great  confidence  in  it,"  she 
said,  "and,  so  far  as  my  experience  goes, 
it  is  justified  by  the  results.  But  I  do 
not  see  how  you  can  be  sure  that  it  will 
be  efficacious  in  every  case." 

"  My  confidence  is  based  on  the  fact 
that  the  Lord  Himself  prescribes  it.  It 
is  a  law  of  the  Divine  order.  It  is  the 
Lord's  way,  and  therefore  must  be  cer- 
tain in  its  effects.  When  we  begin  to 
turn  our  thoughts  away  from  ourselves 
and  look  to  the  good  of  others  and  do 


1 24  CONSOLA  TION. 

something-  to  help  and  comfort  them,  we 
come  into  the  currents  of  the  Divine 
order,  we  become  subject  to  the  laws  of 
infinite  wisdom  which  all  tend  to  promote 
our  happiness.  No  one  can  suffer  while 
living-  in  the  harmonies  of  this  order. 
I  must  not  detain  you  with  repeating 
what,  I  presume,  I  have  told  you  before, 
though  this  is  a  subject  upon  which  we 
need  '  line  upon  line  and  precept  upon 
precept.'  I  will  call  upon  your  friend, 
and  do  anything  in  my  power  to  help 
her  bear  her  burden  and  make  it  as  light 
as  possible." 

When  I  called  I  found  her  surrounded 
by  every  comfort  and  luxury  which  money 
could  procure.  She  greeted  me  politely, 
but  with  some  reserve,  and  asked  me  to 
be  seated. 

"I  have  heard  from  your  friend  Mrs. 
Luce,"  I  said,  "  of  the  great  misfortune 


FROM  APPAREXT  TO    TRUE  RICHES.     1 25 

that  has  fallen  upon  you  and  your  family, 
and  I  have  come  at  her  request,  in  the 
hope  that  I  may  be  able  to  suggest  some- 
thing to  help  you  to  bear  the  burden  of 
this  great  change  in  your  domestic  and 
social  life  which  such  a  loss  must  neces- 
sarily produce." 

"  It  is  very  kind  in  Mrs.  Luce  to  think 
of  me,  and  of  you  to  come  on  such  a 
hopeless  mission,"  she  said.  "I  do  not 
know  what  any  one  can  do  to  change  the 
stubborn  facts  that  we  have  lost  our  prop- 
erty and  must  take  the  consequences, 
which  seem  to  me  to  be  so  dreadful  that 
the  thought  of  them  appals  me." 

"  Perhaps,"  I  replied,  "  they  may  not  be 
so  great  in  reality  as  you  imagine  them 
to  be." 

"  I  do  not  see  how  the  idea  can  be 
greater  than  the  reality,"  she  replied. 
"It   necessitates   a   total    change   in   our 


1 26  CONS  OLA  TION. 

whole  mode  of  life.  I  must  give  up  all 
the  luxuries  which  have  become  neces- 
sities by  long-  use.  We  must  leave 
this  beautiful  house  and  these  spacious 
grounds.  I  may  be  compelled  to  sew  or 
do  domestic  work  for  a  living.  My  hus- 
band  may  be   forced  to  become  a  clerk, 

and  my  children Oh,  I  cannot  bear 

to  think  what  will  become  of  them  !" 

"  This  would  be  a  severe  trial  indeed," 
I  replied ;  "  but  you  have  not  come  to  it 
yet.  Why  load  yourself  down  with  bur- 
dens before  they  come  upon  you  ?  It 
will  be  time  enough  to  feel  their  weight 
when  they  do  come.  You  may  never  be 
called  upon  to  bear  many  of  them,  and,  if 
you  are,  they  may  come  in  an  entirely 
different  and  less  oppressive  form  than 
you  imagine.  But  don't  go  out  to  ser- 
vice or  solicit  sewing  to  support  your 
family  until  you  are  compelled  to.     Enjoy 


FROM  APPARENT  TO    TRUE  RICHES.     1 27 

what  you  have,  and  do  what  you  can  to 
comfort  your  children  and  sustain  your 
husband  to-day.  'Sufficient  unto  the  day 
is  the  evil  thereof.'  " 

"That  is  wise  counsel,  I  am  sure,"  she 
answered,  "but  it  is  difficult  to  follow  it. 
I  sit  here  and  think  and  think,  and  shrink 
with  terror  at  the  thought  of  so  great  a 
change  in  our  life.  My  husband  comes 
home  every  night  so  weary  and  depressed 
that  my  heart  aches  to  see  him." 

"  My  advice  to  you,  then,  is  not  to  sit 
here  and  think  of  imaginary  evils,  but 
do  something  for  your  children.  Go  out 
and  breathe  the  fresh  air  ;  call  upon  your 
friends,  and  put  a  hopeful  face  upon  the 
changed  condition  in  your  circumstances." 

"  Call  upon  my  friends !  I  have  not 
the  courage  to  do  that.  I  am  afraid  I 
could  not  find  many  friends  among  my 
fashionable  associates.     They  would  pity 


128  CONSOLATION. 

me  and  say  some  commonplace  and  un- 
meaning things  ;  but  they  could  not  give 
me  a  word  that  would  encourage  and 
help  me.  No ;  I  prefer  to  remain  at 
home  and  do  something  for  my  children 
and  husband." 

"  That  is  the  grand  panacea,"  I  replied  ; 
"  you  will  forget  yourself,  and  for  a  time 
your  troubles  also.  But  this  is  only  pal- 
liative. There  is  a  way  in  which  you  and 
your  family  can  get  greater  happiness  and 
a  more  permanent  and  precious  good  out 
of  your  narrower  circumstances  than  you 
did  out  of  your  ampler  means." 

"Can  that  be  possible?"  she  asked. 
"Do  tell  me  how." 

"  I  have  not  the  time  to-day,  and  per- 
haps I  have  wearied  you  already,"  I  re- 
plied. "  But  with  your  permission  I  will 
call  again  and  tell  you  how  to  find  the 
greater  good." 


FROM  APPARENT  TO    TRUE  RICHES.     1 29 

"  I  shall  be  much  pleased  to  have  you," 
she  replied,  "and  I  shall  look  for  you 
with  deep  interest." 

In  a  few  days  I  called  again,  and  found 
her  quite  busy  in  preparing  to  move,  but 
she  promptly  left  her  work  and  welcomed 
me  quite  cordially. 

"  I  don't  think  you  know  how  hard  it  is 
to  uproot  one's  self  from  such  a  beautiful 
place  as  this,  which  has  been  my  home 
for  many  years,"  was  her  greeting.  "  It 
seems  as  though  my  affections  were  in- 
terwoven with  every  object  within  and 
around  the  house  by  the  most  intimate 
associations,  and  leaving  them  seems  like 
tearing  them  out  of  my  life." 

"I  presume  I  cannot,"  I  replied;  "but 
I  know  the  process  must  be  a  very  severe 
one  and  require  great  resolution  and 
endurance." 

"  Ah !  if  you  knew  how  many  times  I 


1 30  CONSOLA  TION. 

have  said  I  cannot,  and  been  ready  to 
sink  down  in  despair,  you  would  pity  me, 
I  am  sure.  But  I  have  tried  to  follow 
your  directions,  and  have  found  some 
relief  in  doing  it.  But  how  we  are  to 
find  a  greater  good  in  the  loss  of  our 
property  than  in  the  possession  of  it  I 
cannot  imagine." 

"  If  we  were  created  to  live  in  this 
world  alone  and  enjoy  its  natural  com- 
forts and  delights,  no  greater  good  than 
an  abundance  of  its  possessions  could 
be  gained.  But  we  were  not.  We  have 
wants  which  no  amount  of  worldly  pos- 
sessions can  ever  satisfy.  They  were 
intended  to  be  merely  means  and  instru- 
ments for  the  development  of  our  spirit- 
ual faculties.  Whenever  we  become 
wholly  absorbed  in  getting  them  or  en- 
joying them,  and  they  are  the  supreme 
object    of    our    affections,    they    become 


FROM  APPARENT   TO    TRUE  RICHES.     13 1 

harmful  to  our  supreme  interests  ;  they 
obstruct  the  development  of  the  noblest 
and  most  precious  human  faculties,  and 
they  bar  our  entrance  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  was  the 
case  with  me  and  my  husband?"  she 
asked,  with  a  little  sharpness  in  her  tone. 
"I  have  attended  to  all  my  religious 
duties,  I  have  contributed  liberally  to  the 
Church  and  to  her  benevolent  institutions, 
and  I  am  not  aware  that  I  have  been 
remiss  in  any  of  them." 

"  No,"  I  replied  ;  "  I  am  stating  general 
principles.  I  leave  you  to  apply  them. 
If  you  find  upon  reflection  that  you  were 
loving  the  world  less  and  the  Lord  and 
the  neighbor  more  ;  that  your  thoughts 
naturally  turned  to  subjects  of  a  spirit- 
ual nature,  and  you  found  a  growing 
interest  in   them,   it  would  indicate  that 


1 3  2  CONS  OLA  TION. 

you  were  obeying  the  Lord ;  that  you 
were  leaving  natural  worldly  things  and 
following  Him." 

"  Do  you  mean  that  it  is  wrong  for  us 
to  enjoy  the  good  tilings  of  this  life?" 
she  asked. 

"No,"  I  replied.  "They  were  given 
to  us  to  use  and  enjoy,  but  not  to  love 
supremely.  They  were  given  to  us  to 
be  the  servants  of  a  heavenly  life,  and 
not  hindrances  to  it.  But  the  love  of 
the  world  is  very  subtle  and  powerful  in 
its  influence  to  blind  us  to  our  true  con- 
dition. It  is  easy  to  give  money  of  our 
abundance.  It  costs  us  but  little,  and  is 
of  very  little  spiritual  value.  We  may 
even  do  it  from  a  selfish  or  worldly 
motive.  The  true  test  of  our  love  is  the 
personal  interest  we  feel  in  promoting 
the  happiness  of  others,  and  the  amount 
of   personal  attention  and  effort  we  are 


FROM  APPARENT   TO    TRUE  RICHES.     I33 

willing  to  give  to  the  Church  and  other 
worthy  efforts  to  relieve  the  sufferings  of 
humanity  and  elevate  the  character  of  the 
people  around  us.  You  know  what  the 
apostle  says  :  '  Though  I  bestow  all  my 
goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  have  not 
charity,  I  am  nothing.'  Charity  consists 
in  doing  good  to  others  from  love  to 
them.  It  is  a  personal  work.  Giving 
money  may  be  one  of  the  means  and  it 
may  not.  But  the  doing  is  the  essential 
thing  that  the  act  may  be  charity  in  us." 

"You  do  not  regard  it  as  necessary, 
then,  that  we  should  impoverish  ourselves 
to  do  good  to  others,"  she  said. 

"By  no  means,"  I  replied.  "That 
might  prevent  us  from  helping  others. 
We  are  to  use  what  we  have,  as  wise 
stewards  of  the  Lord's  bounty,  to  pro- 
mote the  supreme  end  He  has  in  view  in 
all  His  works,  and  that  is  the  salvation 


1 34  CONSOLA  TION. 

and  happiness  of  men.  Wealth  is  always 
useful  to  us  when  we  employ  it  for  this 
purpose,  and  harmful  when  we  do  not. 
When  we  are  entirely  content  with  our 
natural  possessions  and  have  no  aspira- 
tions for  anything  higher  and  nobler  than 
simply  to  enjoy  them  ;  when  we  practi- 
cally say  to  our  soul,  '  Soul,  thou  hast 
much  goods  laid  up  for  many  years  ;  take 
thine  ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry,'  it  is 
a  blessing  to  have  them  taken  from  us, 
that  we  may  know  upon  how  frail  a  foun- 
dation we  are  basing  our  eternal  happi- 
ness. When  our  natural  possessions, 
however  abundant  and  precious  they  may 
be,  do  not  satisfy  the  wants  of  our  nature, 
and  our  affections  have  become  so  firmly 
rooted  in  them  that  we  cannot  extricate 
them  without  some  help  beyond  our 
power,  then  it  may  be  a  great  blessing  to 
have  them  taken  from  us,  however  severe 


FROM  APPARENT  TO    TRUE  RICHES.     1 35 

the  wrench,  that,  freed  from  their  weight 
and  entanglements,  we  may  rise  to  some- 
thing- higher  and  better  which  the  world 
can  never  give.  Many  persons  have  lived 
to  see  that  they  gained  more  happiness 
by  the  loss  of  their  wealth  than  they  did 
by  its  possession." 

"  This  is  a  new  and  strange  doctrine," 
said  Mrs.  Brown,  "  and  I  hope  it  may 
prove  to  be  true  in  our  case." 

"  I  am  sure  it  will,"  I  replied,  "  if  you 
accept  the  change  in  a  right  spirit  and  try 
to  make  the  best  of  it." 

I  did  not  see  Mrs.  Brown  again  for 
many  months ;  but  I  heard  from  her 
friends  that  she  bore  the  change  in  their 
circumstances  with  fortitude  and  even 
cheerfulness.  She  became  personally  ac- 
tive in  many  good  works  for  the  allevia- 
tion of  human  suffering  and  improvement 
in    the   condition    and    character   of    the 


I36  CONSOLATION. 

people.  They  were  not  reduced  to  ab- 
solute poverty.  Pier  husband  saved  suf- 
ficient, with  the  salary  of  an  important 
position  he  obtained,  to  make  them  com- 
fortable and  to  leave  some  margin  to 
assist  others,  and  she  learned  by  happy 
experience  the  truth  of  the  Divine  words: 
"A  little  that  a  righteous  man  hath  is 
better  than  the  riches  of  many  wicked." 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

GIVE    AND    IT    SHALL    BE    GIVEN    TO    YOU. 


12*  137 


"  The  Lord  is  gracious,  and  full  of  compassion  ;  slow 
to  anger,  and  of  great  mercy. 

"  The  Lord  is  good  to  all :  and  his  tender  mercies  are 
over  all  his  works." — Psalm  cxlv.  8,  9. 

"  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest. 

"Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  me;  for  I 
am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart:  and  ye  shall  find  rest 
unto  your  souls." — Matthew  xi.  28,  29. 


138 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

GIVE    AND    IT    SHALL    BE    GIVEN    TO    YOU. 

There  is  a  sure  way  to  gain  relief  from 
all  our  burdens  of  care  and  sorrow  ;  there 
is  a  balm  that  will  heal  every  wounded 
affection ;  there  are  infallible  means  to 
extract  a  blessing  from  the  greatest  natu- 
ral calamities.  These  remedies  never 
fail  in  effecting  a  cure  for  our  evils  when 
applied  according  to  the  prescribed  rules. 
They  are  easily  obtained,  and  are  offered 
without  money  and  without  price. 

They  have  been  partially  expressed  in 
the  preceding  interviews  with  those  who 
have  been  bereaved  of  loved  ones.  But 
it  may  be  effective  and  useful  to  state 
them  in  a   more  connected  and   rational 

139 


HO  CONSOLATION. 

manner  than  was  possible  in  conversa- 
tion. We  are  slow  to  believe  that  the 
Lord  who  has  all  power  does  not  act  in 
an  arbitrary  manner,  giving  or  withholding 
His  blessings,  rewarding  and  punishing 
according  to  His  regard  for  men,  much 
as  fallible  human  beings  do  when  they 
possess  the  power.  But  the  truth  is 
exactly  the  reverse  of  this.  He  neither 
rewards  nor  punishes  from  caprice  or 
personal  favor  or  dislike.  He  always 
acts  according  to  universal  and  immuta- 
ble laws,  in  the  dispensing  of  all  His 
favors  in  the  spiritual  as  well  as  in  the 
material  plane  of  the  creation.  These 
laws  are  the  methods  by  which  infinite 
wisdom  carries  into  effect  the  purposes 
of  infinite  love.  The  Lord  provides  good 
and  only  good  for  every  human  being, 
and  when  men  step  out  of  this  Divine 
order  they  suffer.      But  still  there  is  in 


GIVEAXD  IT  SHALL  BE  GIVEN  TO  YOU.   141 

these  very  laws  a  tendency  to  relieve 
their  sufferings  and  restore  them  to  har- 
mony with  the  order  of  infinite  wisdom. 

There  are  laws  of  the  Divine  order  in 
the  healing  of  wounded  affections,  and 
means  which  the  Lord  Himself  has  pro- 
vided as  infallible  remedies  for  the  cure 
of  all  man's  spiritual  diseases.  He  is 
doing-  now  what  He  did  when  on  earth. 
He  is  in  the  constant  effort  to  heal  all 
manner  of  disease  and  sickness  among 
the  people,  and  He  does  heal  all  who 
come  to  Him  of  every  sorrow  and  dis- 
tress.    He  sends  no  one  away. 

If  we  could  believe  this,  or  had  suf- 
ficient faith  in  it  to  give  the  remedies  a 
fair  trial,  how  many  hearts  burdened  with 
some  bitter  sorrow  would  be  relieved ! 
how  many  minds  darkened  by  severe 
affliction  would  be  made  bright  and  joy- 
ous ! 


142  CONSOLATION. 

One  of  these  means  of  relief  and  com- 
fort has  been  somewhat  urged  as  a  sov- 
ereign remedy  for  profound  grief,  and 
experience  has  proved  its  efficacy.  But 
the  reader  may  not  think  that  its  power 
has  its  cause  in  the  nature  of  the  human 
mind  and  its  relations  to  the  source  of 
life.  This,  however,  is  the  fact.  The 
human  mind  is  so  constituted  that  its 
faculties  can  be  harmoniously  developed 
only  by  the  transmission  of  affection  and 
thought  to  others.  Life  would  stagnate 
and  the  whole  nature  become  corrupt 
like  a  standing  pool  if  the  currents  of 
life  ceased  to  flow. 

We  see  evidences  of  this  law,  which  is 
universal,  in  ourselves  and  in  everything 
around  us.  If  the  air  which  flows  into 
the  lungs  and  gives  motion  and  sensation 
to  the  body  were  held  there,  we  should 
be  suffocated.    If  the  heart  were  to  retain 


GIVE  AND  IT  SHALL  BE  GIVEN  TO  YOU.   1 43 

the  blood  in  its  own  chambers,  instead  of 
passing-  it  on  to  supply  the  wastes  and 
nourish  the  whole  body,  all  physical  life 
would  become  extinct  and  the  body  would 
turn  to  dust.  The  same  law  rules  in  the 
realms  of  the  spirit.  It  is  true  it  does 
not  become  extinct  like  the  material  body, 
because  it  is  indestructible  ;  but  its  form 
and  order  become  perverted.  All  har- 
mony in  its  action  is  destroyed,  and  cares 
and  fears,  anxieties  and  grief,  and  con- 
flicting emotions  fill  and  torment  the  mind. 
There  is  no  peace  to  the  wicked.  The 
human  spirit,  like  the  human  body,  is 
composed  of  innumerable  organs  or  ves- 
sels for  the  reception  of  the  life  which  is 
constantly  in  the  effort  to  flow  in  from  the 
Lord.  It  presses  upon  every  vessel  as 
the  atmosphere  upon  the  material  body. 
It  is  the  river  of  life,  and  makes  everything 
live  to  which  it  gains  free  access.     Just  in 


144  COASOLA  TION. 

the  degree  we  close  our  minds  against  its 
inflowing  we  exclude  normal  and  healthy 
life  from  our  minds.  If  we  refuse  or  fail 
to  pass  it  on  in  the  form  of  affection, 
thought,  and  useful  deed,  it  becomes  per- 
verted in  its  nature,  loses  its  life-giving 
power,  stagnates,  and  causes  all  the  men- 
tal sufferings  humanity  endures. 

But  if  we  pass  it  on  to  others  in  un- 
selfish affections  embodied  in  comforting 
and  helpful  truths  and  kind  deeds,  we 
keep  the  currents  of  life  in  motion  ;  they 
flow  through  our  spiritual  bodies  as  the 
blood  flows  through  the  arteries  and  veins 
of  the  material  body,  carrying  the  bread 
of  life  of  which  they  are  composed  to 
every  vessel  and  pore  of  the  spirit,  feed- 
ing every  hungry  mouth,  and  refreshing 
every  thirsty  affection  with  water  from 
the  river  of  life.  They  soothe  irritations, 
they  heal  wounded  affections,  they  give 


GIVE  AND  IT  SHALL  BE  GIVEN  TO  YOU.   145 

strength  to  the  weak,  they  lighten  the 
burden  of  care,  they  assuage  the  sorrows 
of  the  bereaved  and  give  hope  to  the  for- 
saken. There  is  no  sorrow  which  they 
cannot  heal.  It  is  in  their  nature  to  do  it 
in  the  same  sense  that  it  is  in  the  nature 
of  wholesome  food  to  satisfy  hunger  and 
of  pure  water  to  quench  the  thirsty  lips. 
They  are  the  spiritual  substances  of  which 
the  human  mind  or  spirit  is  composed, 
and  they  flow  according  to  the  form  and 
order  of  infinite  wisdom  in  the  creation 
of  man. 

We  can  act  with  these  forces  or  against 
them.  We  can  turn  them  out  of  their 
normal  course  by  our  love  of  self  and  the 
world,  arrest  their  progress  and  pervert 
their  wholesome  life-giving  nature,  or  we 
can  pass  them  on  to  others  in  kind  words 
and  useful  deeds,  as  an  expression  of  our 

love  for  them.     When  we  do  this  we  are 
G      k  13 


146  CONSOLATION. 

in  the  currents  of  the  Divine  harmonies  ; 
we  are  lifted  up  and  borne  onward  by  the 
Divine  forces.  As  we  give  to  others  the 
Lord  gives  to  us;  we  are  constantly  re- 
freshed with  new  life  from  the  source  of 
life.  Our  affections  are  enlarged  and 
purified,  our  intellectual  faculties  are 
quickened  into  new  action  and  glow  with 
a  new  and  serene  light.  We  see  light  in 
the  Lord's  light, — that  is,  the  illusions  of 
the  senses  are  dispelled  and  we  see  our 
relations  to  others  in  their  true  form. 
The  path  of  life  which  leads  to  heaven 
and  the  Lord  grows  plainer,  and  we  gain 
strength  to  walk  in  it  and  delight  in  doing 
so.  We  see  that  it  leads  through  the 
hearts  and  understandings  of  others,  and 
like  the  blood  in  its  circuits  through  the 
body,  we  help  to  cleanse  and  remove  the 
substances  which  have  done  their  work 
in  the  wear  of  life  ;  we  give  power  and 


GIVE  AND  IT  SHALL  BE  GIVEN  TO  YOU.  1 47 

gain  power;  we  give  life  and  receive  it. 
It  is,  therefore,  according  to  the  immu- 
table laws  of  the  Divine  order  in  creat- 
ing, preserving,  and  blessing  men,  that 
we  should  do  to  them  as  He  does  to  us. 
These  laws  are  expressed  in  the  two 
great  commandments:  "Thou  shalt  love 
the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind, 
and  with  all  thy  strength :  this  is  the 
first  commandment.  And  the  second  is 
like,  namely  this,  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbour  as  thyself." 

The  point  I  desire  to  make  and  empha- 
size is  this  :  that  to  love  others  and  to 
seek  to  help  them  according  to  our  ability 
and  their  needs  is  the  Divinely-appointed 
way  to  gain  the  blessings  we  seek  to  assist 
others  in  gaining.  If  we  are  mourning 
the  loss  of  friends,  we  shall  find  relief 
in  comforting  other  mourners;    if  we  are 


1 48  CONS  OL  A  TION. 

weak,  we  shall  gain  strength  by  helping 
the  weak  ;  if  we  are  in  doubt  and  dark- 
ness, we  shall  gain  light  by  giving  it  to 
others.  "  Give  and  it  shall  be  given  to 
you"  is  a  law  of  the  Divine  order,  and 
it  cannot  by  any  possibility  fail  of  fulfil- 
ment. We  say,  then,  to  every  bereaved 
and  sorrowing  soul,  comfort  the  bereaved, 
help  the  sorrowful,  strengthen  the  weak, 
give  hope  to  the  despairing,  and  you 
will  find  diat  what  you  give  to  others 
will  be  given  to  you,  "good  measure, 
pressed  down  and  running  over." 

But  we  must  not  expect  this  relief  will 
come  at  once.  It  cannot  be  given  in  an 
arbitrary  way,  as  we  can  give  a  dime  to  a 
beggar.  It  can  come  only  by  a  gradual 
change  in  our  own  minds.  But  it  will 
surely  come.  The  Lord  Himself  is 
pledged  to  it.  All  His  laws  favor  it.  If 
we  believe  that  He  means  what  He  says 


GIVE  AND  IT  SHALL  BE  GIVEN  TO  YOU.  149 

and  that  He  will  keep  His  promises,  we 
can  trust  Him  and  wait  patiently  for  Him, 
knowing"  that  He  will  bless  us  in  the  best 
way  and  in  the  best  time.  Our  ex- 
perience will  accord  with  the  Psalmist's : 
"  I  waited  patiently  for  the  Lord :  and  he 
inclined  unto  me,  and  heard  my  cry. 

"  He  brought  me  up  also  out  of  a  hor- 
rible pit,  out  of  the  miry  clay,  and  set 
my  feet  upon  a  rock,  and  established  my 
goings. 

"  And  he  hath  put  a  new  song  in  my 
mouth,  even  praise  unto  our  God.  .  .  . 

"  Blessed  is  that  man  that  maketh  the 
Lord  his  trust." 


13* 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE    LORD'S    LOVE    FOR    MAN. 


151 


"For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." — John  iii.  16. 

"  He  that  hath  my  commandments,  and  keepeth 
them,  he  it  is  that  loveth  me  :  and  he  that  loveth  me 
shall  be  loved  of  my  Father,  and  I  will  love  him,  and 
will  manifest  myself  to  him.   .  .   . 

"  If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  words :  and  my 
Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  unto  him,  and 
make  our  abode  with  him." — John  xiv.  21,  23. 

"The  Lord  hath  appeared  of  old  unto  me,  saying, 
Yea,  I  have  loved  thee  with  an  everlasting  love  :  there- 
fore with  lovingkindness  have  I  drawn  thee." — Jere- 
miah xxxi.  3. 

"  In  all  their  affliction  he  was  afflicted,  and  the  Angel 
of  his  presence  saved  them :  in  his  love  and  in  his  pity 
he  redeemed  them  ;  and  he  bare  them,  and  carried 
them  all  the  days  of  old." — Isaiah  Ixiii.  9. 

"  The  Lord  is  gracious,  and  full  of  compassion  ;  slow 
to  anger,  and  of  great  mercy. 

"  The  Lord  is  good  to  all :  and  his  tender  mercies  are 
over  all  his  works." — Psalm  cxlv.  8,  9. 


152 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE    LORD'S    LOVE    FOR    MAN. 

There  is  an  infinite  source  of  conso- 
lation, comfort,  and  strength  specifically 
adapted  to  every  human  condition.  It  is 
a  fountain  of  life,  and  it  communicates  life 
to  every  form  that  receives  it.  It  organ- 
izes forms,  gives  them  consciousness,  and 
dwells  in  them  ;  it  stimulates  growth  ;  it 
gives  strength  to  the  weak,  reduces  dis- 
order to  harmony,  heals  wounded  affec- 
tions, comforts  the  bereaved,  and  gives 
"  the  oil  of  joy  for  mourning."  There  is 
no  sorrow  which  it  cannot  relieve.  This 
fountain  of  healing,  joy,  and  life  is  the 
Lord's  infinite  and  unchanging-  love  for 
man. 

I  S3 


154  CONS  OLA  TION. 

But  little  is  known  of  the  nature  and 
extent  of  this  love.  We  call  it  infinite, 
but  the  word  conveys  no  distinct  and 
satisfactory  idea  to  our  minds.  We  (an- 
not  comprehend  the  infinite  ;  but  we  can 
understand  that  there  is  no  conceivable 
limit  to  its  power  and  adaptation  to 
human  conditions  and  wants  ;  that  there 
is  no  human  mind  which  it  does  not  reach 
and  in  which  it  is  not  operative.  That 
conception  of  infinite  love  is  sufficient  for 
all  human  needs. 

Love  is  generally  regarded  as  a  pleas- 
urable feeling,  but  it  is  not.  It  is  the 
cause  of  the  feeling,  and  bears  the  same 
relation  to  it  that  the  fire  does  to  the 
feeling  of  warmth.  Love  is  a  substance. 
It  contains  within  itself  in  potency  the 
germs  of  all  forms,  natural  and  spiritual, 
all  forces,  all  order,  all  the  activities  in 
the  spiritual  and  material  universe.     It  is 


THE  LORD'S  LOVE  FOR   MAN.         I  5  5 

the  primal  self-existing  fountain  of  all 
substance,  all  form,  ail  power,  all  life. 

"God  is  love,"  says  the  apostle  John. 
Infinitely  more  is  meant  by  this  than  that 
God  loves.  Men  can  love,  but  they  are 
not  love.  They  are  merely  organized 
forms  capable  of  receiving  love  and  made 
conscious  and  blessed  by  its  reception 
from  the  Lord.  It  means  that  the  inmost, 
essential,  self-existent  essence  of  God  is 
love.  He  is  love  and  wisdom  conjoined. 
Love  is  His  essence,  wisdom  is  the  form 
of  His  love  as  it  goes  forth  into  act.  It 
is  as  impossible,  therefore,  that  anything 
can  proceed  from  Him  which  is  not  love 
in  form  and  quality,  as  it  is  that  anything 
can  proceed  from  the  sun  but  heat  and 
light. 

"There  are  three  things,"  says  Sweden- 
borg,  "  which  constitute  the  essence  of 
the  Lord's  love  :  to  love  others  out  of  or 


1 5  6  CONS  OLA  TION. 

without  Himself;  to  desire  to  be  one  with 
them  ;  and  to  make  them  happy  from 
Himself."  "Love  consists  in  this:  that 
its  own  should  become  another's  own." 
According  to  these  definitions  of  love,  it 
is  its  essential  nature  to  oive  itself  to 
others  and  make  them  happy  in  its  recep- 
tion and  possession.  This  was  the  su- 
preme end  of  the  Lord  in  the  creation  of 
the  material  universe  and  everything  in 
the  three  kingdoms  of  nature.  Every- 
thing- was  created  to  be  of  service  in  the 
formation  of  man's  physical  nature,  and 
that  was  created  to  be  the  basis  of  his 
spiritual  nature  and  the  means  of  its  de- 
velopment. When  these  temporary  in- 
struments have  performed  their  use  they 
are  thrown  aside,  and  man  comes  con- 
sciously into  the  spiritual  world  ;  and,  if 
he  has  lived  a  good  life,  he  finds  his 
eternal  home  in  heaven,  and  the  Lord's 


THE  LORD'S  LOVE  FOR  MAN.         1 57 

final  end  is  accomplished  in  him.  He 
helps  to  form  a  heaven  of  intelligent  hu- 
man beings  who  will  be  capable  of  re- 
ceiving the  Divine  love  in  larger  measures 
and  purer  forms  forever.  The  Lord  can 
give  His  own  love  to  them  to  become 
their  love,  and  they  can  pass  it  on  to 
others  to  become  their  love,  and  both 
giver  and  receiver  will  be  made  happy 
by  its  reception  and  transmission. 

A  good  love  is  a  powerful  attraction. 
Consequently  it  will  tend  to  draw  all  the 
inhabitants  of  heaven  into  closer  union 
with  one  another  and  with  the  Lord  Him- 
self. His  prayer  will  be  in  constant  and 
increasing  fulfilment :  "  I  pray  that  they 
all  may  be  one ;  as  thou,  Father,  art  in 
me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be 
one  in  us.  ...  I  in  them,  and  thou  in  me, 
that  they  may  be  made  perfect  in  one." 
Such  is  the  nature  and  power  of  the  Di- 
14 


1 5  8  CONS  OLA  TION. 

vine  love  in  every  degree  and  form  of  its 
existence,  and  such  is  its  effect  in  every 
one  who  receives  and  transmits  it. 

But  the  Lord's  love  assumes  various 
forms  to  adapt  itself  to  the  varying  con- 
ditions and  special  wants  of  men,  and 
these  special  forms  are  designated  by 
special  names.  So  far  as  relates  to  the 
inhabitants  of  this  world,  His  love  is  prin- 
cipally exercised  towards  those  who  are 
in  error  and  sin.  The  race  has  fallen 
from  its  original  purity  and  spiritual  per- 
fection, and  the  Divine  love  must  assume 
forms  adapted  to  the  perverted  states  of 
men,  and  names  must  be  given  to  it  that 
characterize  its  special  form  and  use. 
Every  affection  is  the  special  form  of  love, 
and  these  forms  are  innumerable  and 
various  in  quality  and  use.  I  can  only 
mention  some  of  the  more  general  ones. 

Mercy  is  one  of  the  most  common,  and 


THE  LORD'S  LOVE  EOR  MAN.         1 59 

is  frequently  represented  as  one  of  the 
essential  qualities  of  the  Lord's  love. 
Mercy  is  defined  as  "  love  grieving."  It 
is  love  exercised  towards  the  evil  and  the 
unthankful,  towards  the  wicked  in  every 
state  of  their  departure  from  goodness 
and  truth  and  their  hostility  to  the  Lord. 
His  mercies  are  represented  as  great,  as 
manifold,  as  sure,  as  tender,  as  enduring 
forever.  His  loving-kindness  is  said  to 
be  merciful.  Men  in  humiliation  and  de- 
spair on  account  of  their  sins  implore  His 
mercy,  rarely,  if  ever,  His  love.  Mercy 
is  not  an  occasional  and  fitful  emotion 
of  the  Lord  excited  by  the  prayers  and 
pathetic  appeals  of  the  sinner.  It  is  as 
constant  as  the  sun.  It  implies  a  kind 
disposition  towards  the  sinner  and  a  de- 
sire and  constant  effort  to  save  him  from 
the  inevitable  suffering  caused  by  error 
and  sin.     Indeed,  it  is  one  of  the  most 


1 60  CO  NS  O  LA  TION. 

effective  manifestations  of  pure,  tender, 
perfect  love, — a  love  that  can  be  exercised 
only  towards  sinners. 

This  fact  has  a  most  important  bearing 
upon  the  Lord's  relation  to  men.  All 
men  are  sinners.  If  He  loves  only  those 
who  have  become  regenerate  and  hates 
those  who  have  not,  He  must  hate  the 
whole  human  race.  There  is  no  room 
for  love,  no  occasion  for  the  exercise  of 
this  pure  and  tender  form  of  affection. 
He  must  be  doing  the  opposite  of  what 
He  commands  us  to  do  when  He  says, 
"  But  I  say  unto  you,  Love  your  enemies, 
bless  them  that  curse  you,  do  good  to 
them  that  hate  you,  and  pray  for  them 
which  despitefully  use  you,  and  persecute 
you ;  that  ye  may  be  the  children  of  youi 
Father  which  is  in  heaven  :  for  he  maketh 
his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the 
good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and 


THE  LORD'S  LOl'E   TOR   MAN.         IOI 

on  the  unjust."  If  obedience  to  this 
command  is  the  only  way  to  become  per- 
fect as  our  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect, 
can  it  be  possible  that  He  is  not  exer- 
cising the  same  mercy  and  tenderness 
of  affection  towards  every  one  of  His 
enemies  ?  How  can  a  man  become  per- 
fect as  his  Father  in  heaven  by  exer- 
cising virtues  which  his  Father  does  not  ? 
Would  he  not  rather  be  exceeding  his 
Heavenly  Father  in  mercy  and  commiser- 
ation of  the  poor  misguided  sinner? 
Surely,  this  is  too  absurd  for  any  rational 
mind  to  believe. 

While  man  has  any  love  for  what  is 
good  and  true  the  Lord  can  draw  him 
towards  Himself  by  the  attraction  of  that 
affection.  But  when  his  nature  becomes 
wholly  perverted  and  antagonistic  to 
every  principle  of  goodness  and  truth  he 
turns  away  from  the  Lord,  closes  his  mind 
/  14* 


1 62  CONSOLATION. 

against  every  influence  of  His  love ;  he 
reverses  his  true  and  orderly  relations 
to  the  Source  of  life  and  beats  against 
the  flow  of  its  forces.  When  this  is  the 
case  the  sinner  misjudges  the  love  of 
the  Lord.  He  thinks  the  change  is  in 
Him  ;  that  His  love  is  turned  to  hatred, 
that  He  is  his  enemy,  and  now  seeks  to 
punish  and  destroy  him.  But  there  has 
been  no  change  in  the  Lord.  He  loves 
him  with  the  same  tenderness  as  ever. 
His  mercy  is  everlasting.  He  pities  him 
in  his  misery,  and  does  everything  in  His 
power  to  mitigate  his  sufferings  and  lead 
him  back  into  the  currents  of  the  Divine 
order. 

But  as  He  cannot  draw  him  by  affec- 
tion, He  restrains  him,  if  possible,  by  fears 
and  penalties  from  going  further  astray; 
and  in  time,  by  instruction  and  by  show- 
ing  him  how  futile   are  all  his  attempts 


THE  LORD'S  LOVE  FOR  MAN.         163 

to  find  rest  and  happiness  in  the  indul- 
gence of  error  and  sin,  causes  him,  like 
the  prodigal,  to  come  to  himself  and  re- 
turn to  his  Father  and  home.  The  Lord's 
relation  to  the  sinner  is  described  in  the 
Word  in  the  most  awful  terms  language 
can  supply ;  but  this  change  is  in  accord- 
ance with  the  same  principle  which  causes 
love  to  become  mercy  and  the  tenderest 
compassion. 

These  terms  do  not  describe  any  change 
in  the  mind  of  the  Lord  ;  they  depict  a 
change  in  the  appearance  of  the  Divine 
love  caused  by  a  change  of  state  in  the 
mind  of  the  sinner.  We  make  ourselves 
the  centre  and  estimate  the  value  of 
everything  by  its  relations  to  us.  If  the 
love  of  self  and  the  world  is  our  ruling- 
motive,  we  call  everything  good  which 
favors  that  love.  Every  one  is  a  friend 
who  promotes  its  interests,  and  every  one 


164  CONSOLATION. 

is  an  enemy  who  puts  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  our  obtaining  and  enjoying  it.  We 
regard  this  world  as  the  only  real  world, 
and  this  life  as  the  real  life.  From  this 
point  of  view  the  loss  of  the  means  of 
gratifying  our  natural  affections  and  tastes 
is  a  severe  privation,  and  the  death  of  the 
material  body  the  greatest  calamity  that 
can  befall  a  human  being.  All  our  hopes 
and  fears  are  bounded  by  this  world, 
and  our  highest  conceptions  of  life  are 
abundant  means  of  gratifying  our  natural 
tastes  and  desires. 

The  Lord  regards  man  from  an  entirely 
opposite  point  of  view.  He  regards  man 
as  a  spiritual  being,  and  estimates  the 
value  of  all  natural  attainments  and  pos- 
sessions according  to  their  use  in  pro- 
moting those  interests.  He  looks  to 
the  eternal  in  everything  temporal.  He 
knows  that  man  was  made  to  love  Him 


THE  LORD'S  LOVE  FOR  MAN.         1 65 

supremely  and  his  neighbor  as  himself, 
and  that  he  can  gain  his  highest  happi- 
ness in  no  other  way.  Consequently, 
His  first  call  upon  man  is  to  change  his 
mind.  Hence  arises  collision.  Man  re- 
gards the  Lord  as  his  enemy.  The  Lord 
demands  that  man  should  leave  all  and 
follow  Him.  The  Lord  seeks  in  all  He 
provides  and  in  all  He  withholds  to  lead 
man  in  freedom  to  subordinate  the  love 
of  self  and  the  world  to  the  love  of  the 
Lord  and  the  neighbor.  This  implies  a 
complete  reversal  in  the  order  of  his  na- 
ture. It  is  really  a  radical  change  of  mind. 
It  is  a  change  in  the  point  of  view  from 
which  he  regards  himself  and  the  Lord 
and  every  human  being.  It  is  an  entire 
change  in  the  measure  by  which  he  esti- 
mates all  values.  In  a  word,  it  is  a  com- 
plete reversal  of  all  the  ends  of  his  life. 
This  change  must  also  be  effected  by 


1 66  CONSOLATION. 

his  consent  and  voluntary  co-operation. 
While  it  is  wrought  by  the  Lord  alone  in 
the  silence  and  secrecy  of  his  inmost 
being-,  it  must  come  down  into  his  open 
and  distinct  consciousness,  and  he  must 
meet  the  temptations  and  wage  the  con- 
flict as  if  by  his  own  power.  He  must  lay 
down  his  selfish  and  worldly  life  in  supreme 
affection  and  yield  to  the  Divine  guidance. 
This  work  consists  essentially  in  the 
creation  of  a  new  will  and  a  new  under- 
standing. Man  is  "  born  from  above." 
The  spiritual  degrees  of  his  mind  are 
opened.  The  Lord  calls  it  the  creation 
of  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth.  The 
true  order  of  the  human  faculties  is  re- 
stored. Man  comes  into  harmony  with 
the  Lord.  Every  fibre  of  his  being  vi- 
brates in  unison  with  the  currents  of  the 
forces  of  life.  He  dwells  in  the  Lord 
and  the  Lord  in  him. 


THE  LORD  S  LOVE  FOR   MAN.         1 67 

This  change  has  been  wrought  by  the 
Divine  love  and  wisdom.  The  Lord  has 
been  present  with  man  every  moment; 
He  has  provided  the  means  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  this  new  creation  ;  He  has 
foreseen  all  the  illusions  of  the  senses  to 
which  man  would  be  subject ;  all  the  evil 
affections  that  would  entice  and  corrupt 
him  ;  all  the  falsities  that  would  lead  him 
astray  ;  all  the  sins  that  would  pervert  and 
corrupt  his  natural  affections  and  close 
them  against  the  exercise  and  develop- 
ment of  his  spiritual  faculties  ;  and  He  has 
done  everything  that  infinite  love  and 
wisdom  could  do,  without  destroying  man's 
freedom,  to  turn' them  to  some  good  or 
prevent  them,  as  far  as  possible,  from 
doing  harm. 

Whatever  form  these  means  have  as- 
sumed, whether  of  persuasion,  entreaty, 
command,    the    promise    of   some    great 


1 68  CONSOLA  TION. 

good,  or  of  apparent  anger  and  the 
threats  of  some  terrible  punishment,  pov- 
erty and  bereavement,  or  calamity  in 
any  form,  they  have  originated  in  infinite 
love  and  been  specifically  adapted  in 
every  case  to  do  the  least  harm  or  accom- 
plish the  greatest  good.  They  all  have 
originated  in  infinite  compassion  and  have 
been  carried  into  effect  by  the  tenderest 
mercy.  The  Lord  has  been  gentle  and 
patient  with  all.  If  we  could  see  but  the 
smallest  moiety  of  the  love  and  wisdom 
the  Lord  has  constantly  exercised  towards 
us,  even,  in  things  that  were  naturally 
against  us,  we  should  be  astonished  at 
His  unremitting  care,  we  should  be  over- 
whelmed by  a  sense  of  His  changeless 
love  and  unerring  wisdom,  which  sees  the 
end  in  the  beginning  and  provides  that 
the  temporal  shall  promote  our  eternal 
good. 


CHAPTER    X. 

HOW    TO    LOVE    AND   TRUST   THE    LORD. 


15  169 


"The  first  of  all  the  commandments  is,  Hear,  O 
Israel ;  the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord : 

"  And  thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and 
with  all  thy  strength  :  this  is  the  first  commandment." — 
Mark  xii.  29,  30. 

"  They  that  trust  in  the  Lord  shall  be  as  mount  Zion, 
which  cannot  be  removed,  but  abideth  for  ever." — 
Psalm  cxxv.  i. 

"Many  sorrows  shall  be  to  the  wicked:  but  he  that 
trusteth  in  the  Lord,  mercy  shall  compass  him  about." 
■ — Psalm  xxxii.  10. 

"  Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace,  whose  mind  is 
stayed  on  thee  :  because  he  trusteth  in  thee. 

"  Trust  ye  in  the  Lord  for  ever  :  for  in  the  Lord  Je 
hovah  is  the  rock  of  ages." — Isaiah  xxvi.  3,  4. 


170 


CHAPTER    X. 

HOW   TO    LOVE    AND    TRUST   THE    LORD. 

I  have  dwelt  somewhat  at  length  in  the 
preceding  chapters  on  the  Lord's  love  for 
man  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  a  true 
knowledge  of  its  nature  and  His  ways  of 
exercising  it.  It  is  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance to  get  a  clear  and  true  understand- 
ing of  this  subject,  for  it  is  central  to  all 
our  knowledge  of  the  Lord  and  of  our 
relations  to  Him.  There  is  not  much  said 
in  the  Sacred  Scriptures  by  direct  precept 
of  His  love  for  man  by  the  special  name 
of  love,  because  it  is  revealed  in  an  infi- 
nite variety  of  forms,  each  of  which  is 
designated  by  a  special  and  an  appropri- 
ate name.     There  is  nothing  in  the  uni- 

171 


1 72  CONS  OLA  TION. 

verse  which  the  Lord  has  created  that  is 
not  a  form  and  expression  of  His  love, 
and  more  or  less  directly  useful  to  man. 
The  Lord  embodies  His  love  in  deeds, 
and  He  desires  to  have  His  character 
known  by  its  fruits. 

There  is  much  more  said  about  the  duty 
and  importance  of  man's  loving  the  Lord, 
because  he  is  not  naturally  inclined  to  do 
it.  For  this  reason  he  must  be  taught 
how  to  do  it,  and  the  necessity  of  doing 
it  to  gain  eternal  happiness.  But  he  is 
not  only  taught  by  the  Lord  Himself  the 
importance  of  loving  Him ;  he  is  com- 
manded to  do  it.  "Thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  might." 

But  the  Lord  not  only  commands  us  in 
His  Word  to  love  Him,  He  tells  us  how 
to  do  it.  It  is  by  keeping  His  command- 
ments ;  by  living  according  to  His   stat- 


HO  IV  TO  LOVE  AND  TRUST  THE  LORD.    1 73 

utes,  precepts,  and  judgments.  All  the 
blessings  He  promises  to  bestow  upon  us 
are  conditioned  on  our  obedience  to  His 
commandments.  We  are  not  only  to  know 
them,  we  are  to  do  them.  And  we  see 
in  the  history  of  the  Jews  that  they  were 
always  prosperous  when  they  obeyed 
them,  and  that  all  their  calamities  came 
upon  them  when  they  disobeyed  them. 

There  is  a  cause  grounded  in  the  nature 
of  things  for  these  effects.  The  com- 
mandments are  laws  of  life.  They  origi- 
nate in  the  Divine  nature  and  they  are 
embodied  in  man's  nature.  Consequently, 
when  the  young  man  asked  our  Lord 
what  good  thing  he  should  do  that  he 
might  have  eternal  life,  He  replied,  "  If 
thou  wilt  enter  into  life,  keep  the  com- 
mandments." There  is  no  other  way, 
because  they  are  laws  of  life.  Accord- 
ing to  the  same  immutable  law  of  the  Di- 
'5* 


174  CONSOLATION. 

vine  order,  He  said,  "  He  that  hath  my 
commandments,  and  keepeth  them,  he  it 
is  that  loveth  me."  "  If  ye  love  me,  keep 
my  commandments." 

Here  we  have  plain  and  simple  direc- 
tions how  to  love  the  Lord.  It  consists 
practically  in  having  the  same  ends  in 
view  that  He  has,  and  co-operating"  with 
Him  in  carrying  them  into  effect.  The 
Lord  desires  to  make  every  human  being 
happy,  and  He  has  created  everything 
and  ordained  it  to  conduce  to  this  end. 
All  human  employments,  all  domestic,  in- 
dustrial, all  social,  civil,  and  spiritual  rela- 
tions, are  means  to  effect  this  central  pur- 
pose of  the  Divine  love.  Every  physical, 
intellectual,  and  moral  power  looks  to  this 
end.  Human  happiness  is  promoted  by 
an  innumerable  number  of  small  and  ap- 
parently trivial  things.  A  smile,  a  kind 
word,  a  cheering  look,  a  helping  hand,  have 


HOW  TO  LOVE  AND  TRUST  THE  LORD.   175 

an  influence  in  making  the  burden  of 
labor  and  sorrow  less  oppressive  and 
shedding  some  light  on  the  path  of  life. 

The  essential  thing  that  gives  spiritual 
value  to  all  these  special  services  to  men 
is  the  motive  which  is  put  into  them.  If 
they  are  done  to  man  as  an  expression  of 
our  love  to  the  Lord,  He  accepts  them  as 
done  to  Him,  and  the  rule  of  judgment 
in  our  final  account  will  be,  "Inasmuch 
as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least 
of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it 
unto  me." 

This  is  the  way  the  Lord  loves  us.  It 
is  by  doing  something  to  develop  our 
spiritual  faculties,  to  comfort  us  in  sorrow, 
to  relieve  our  sufferings,  to  protect  us 
from  evil,  to  supply  us  with  the  means  of 
happiness,  and  to  overrule  even  our  se- 
verest bereavements  and  direst  natural 
calamities  to  prevent  greater  evils  or  to 


1 76  CONSOLA  TION. 

conduce  to  some  spiritual  and  eternal 
good.  This  is  the  way  and  the  only  way 
we  can  love  Him.  "  Not  every  one  that 
saith  unto  me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  but  he  that  doeth 
the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven." 
Our  love  does  not  become  fully  ultimated 
and  expressed  until  it  is  embodied  in  our 
deeds.  "  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know 
them." 

If  the  Lord  is  a  Being  of  infinite  love  ; 
if,  as  we  have  tried  to  show  from  His  own 
testimony  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  He  is 
love  in  its  uncreated  essence  ;  if  infinite 
wisdom  is  the  form  of  His  love  as  it  goes 
forth  into  act,  He  can  have  but  one  end 
in  view,  and  that  is  the  communication  of 
His  love  to  others,  and  He  must  do  this 
in  an  infinitely  wise  way,  in  the  largest 
measures  and  the  most  perfect  forms. 
He  can  make  no  mistakes.     He  cannot 


HO  W  TO  LOVE  AND  TRUST  THE  LORD.    1 77 

leave  anything  unprovided  that  would 
contribute  in  the  least  degree  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  His  purpose.  He  can- 
not permit  anything  to  occur  that  would 
prevent  Him  from  attaining  His  end. 
The  admission  that  such  a  hindrance  was 
possible  would  be  the  denial  that  His  love, 
wisdom,  and  power  are  infinite. 

This  is  the  point  of  view  from  which 
every  event  in  our  lives  must  be  regarded. 
It  is  the  only  true  measure  of  the  good  or 
evil  of  the  greatest  natural  losses  and  se- 
verest natural  afflictions,  or  of  the  highest 
success  in  business  and  unbounded  pros- 
perity in  all  our  natural  relations.  If 
those  who  are  bound  to  us  by  the  tender- 
est  and  most  intimate  natural  ties  are  re- 
moved to  the  spiritual  world ;  if  we  lose 
our  property ;  if  we  are  poor  and  feeble, 
and  have  a  hard  struggle  to  provide  the 
necessaries  of  life  when  we  have  done  the 


1 78  CONS  OLA  7  VON. 

best  we  could,  we  must  regard  our  priva- 
tions as  from  the  Divine  love  and  wisdom, 
and  comfort  ourselves  with  the  belief  that 
poverty  and  suffering  are  better  for  us 
than  riches  and  natural  pleasures,  and 
that  the  Lord  sees  how  some  great  harm 
to  our  spiritual  and  eternal  happiness  is 
prevented,  or  some  good  more  precious 
than  money  can  purchase  is  made  possi- 
ble of  attainment ;  and  we  shall  be  content 
to  trust  in  the  Lord  and  wait  patiently 
for  Him,  knowing  that  He  will  fulfil  His 
promises  to  the  letter  in  the  quickest  and 
fullest  manner. 

But  there  are  not  many  people  who  are 
willing  to  do  this.  They  do  not  trust  in 
the  Lord;  they  do  not  believe  Him  when 
He  says,  "  Blessed  is  the  man  that  trust- 
eth  in  him."  They  do  not  believe  in  His 
love  or  wisdom.  They  think  they  know 
better  what   is  good  for   them   than   He 


HOW  TO  LOVE  AND  TR  UST  THE  L  ORD.    1 79 

does.  They  estimate  the  qualities  of 
every  possession  by  an  entirely  opposite 
standard  from  the  Lord's.  They  make 
love  the  standard  as  He  does.  But  it  is 
the  love  of  self  and  the  love  of  the  world. 
Consequently,  everything  which  favors 
these  loves  they  regard  as  good  and 
valuable  in  the  degree  that  it  favors  them  ; 
and  everything  and  every  being  that  op- 
poses them  as  hostile  to  their  highest 
good.  If  they  gain  wealth,  they  regard 
themselves  and  are  regarded  by  others 
as  fortunate  and  prosperous.  If  they 
lose  it,  they  are  called  unfortunate,  and 
often  are  said  to  be  ruined.  If  they  are 
bereaved  of  children  or  those  who  are 
dear  to  them  by  other  natural  ties,  they 
are  often  overwhelmed  with  grief. 

Making  themselves  the  centre  of  the 
universe,  and  regarding  everything  as  good 
that  promotes  their   selfish  and  worldly 


1 80  CONS  OLA  TION. 

interests,  they  cannot  avoid  coming  in 
contact  with  others  who  are  acting  from 
the  same  false  principles.  The  inevitable 
result  is  conflict,  unceasing  vigilance  to 
guard  against  loss,  care,  anxiety,  and  dis- 
appointment. Every  man  and  woman 
whose  ruling  motive  is  the  love  of  self 
and  of  the  world  learns  from  bitter  ex- 
perience the  truth  of  the  words :  "  The 
wicked  are  like  the  troubled  sea,  when 
it  cannot  rest." 

This  must  be  so,  for  they  have  no  sure 
foundation  to  rest  upon.  There  is  no  one 
in  whom  they  can  implicitly  trust.  Even 
when  their  interests  do  not  conflict  with 
others,  those  upon  whom  they  rely  may 
be  unable  to  help  them.  The  physician 
cannot  rescue  the  dying  child  from  the 
grave.  The  husband  or  wife  is  already 
passing  beyond  the  reach  of  human  power; 
the  estate  fades  away ;    cares,  anxieties, 


HOW  TO  LOVE  AND  TRUST  THE  LORD.    l8l 

sorrows,  and  troubles  invade  the  domestic 
circle;  envyings,  jealousies,  animosities,  for 
which  there  is  no  remedy,  fret  and  sting, 
and  cruel  wrongs  are  inflicted.  They 
cannot  trust  themselves  even.  They  feel 
helpless,  and  often  sink  down  in  despair, 
and  nothing  but  dire  necessity  drives  them 
to  effort. 

But  those  who  really  trust  in  the  Lord 
have  an  immutable  foundation  to  rest 
upon.  They  have  their  trials  and  natural 
losses,  their  afflictions  and  bereavements, 
as  well  as  the  wicked.  The  loves  of  self 
and  the  world  must  be  subdued.  Some- 
times it  seems  as  though  they  were  afflicted 
more  than  the  wicked  ;  but  they  have  an 
unfailing  support  and  access  to  an  unfail- 
ing source  of  consolation  of  which  those 
who  trust  in  themselves  have  no  knowl- 
edge. Our  Lord  has  given  a  perfect  pict- 
ure of  both  classes  in  the  parable  of  the 

16 


1 8  2  CONS  OLA  TION. 

house  on  the  rock  or  on  the  sand  :  The 
rain  descended,  and  the  floods  came,  and 
the  winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  both 
houses;  but  the  house  which  had  been 
built  upon  the  rock  of  Divine  truths  by 
doing  them,  stood,  while  the  other,  whose 
foundation  was  the  sand  of  human  opinion, 
fell,  and  great  was  the  fall  of  it.  It  was 
the  destruction  of  all  the  hopes  of  the 
foolish  builder. 

Our  main  concern,  however,  must  be 
how  to  get  this  trust.  Men  despair  of 
attaining  it  because  they  have  the  most 
mistaken  ideas  of  how  it  is  done.  But 
there  is  no  mystery  about  the  means  or 
methods.  It  is  gained  in  the  same  way 
that  we  learn  to  trust  in  our  fellow-men. 

It  cannot  be  attained  by  asking  or 
wishing  or  even  praying  for  it.  It  can- 
not be  given  as  we  can  give  a  present 
to  a  friend.      It  cannot  be  gained   in  a 


HOW  TO  LOVE  AND  TRUST  THE  LORD.    1 83 

moment.  We  trust  those  whom  we 
supremely  love.  If  we  love  ourselves 
above  all  others,  we  put  our  trust  in  our- 
selves. If  we  love  the  Lord  as  He 
commands  us  to  do,  we  put  our  trust  in 
Him.  The  process  of  gaining  this  trust 
consists  essentially  in  transferring  our 
supreme  love  from  ourselves  to  the  Lord. 
This  is  a  slow  and  gradual  process.  It 
is  the  reversion  of  the  whole  order  of 
our  lives.  It  implies  a  true  knowledge 
of  the  Lord,  and  this  knowledge  we  must 
gain  as  we  gain  all  knowledge.  The 
principal  source  of  this  knowledge  is  the 
Sacred  Scriptures.  We  must  do  as  the 
Lord  has  commanded  us.  "Search  the 
Scriptures,"  He  says  ;  "  for  in  them  ye 
think  ye  have  eternal  life  :  and  they  are 
they  which  testify  of  me."  They  were 
given  to  men  to  reveal  the  existence  and 
nature  of  the  Lord  and  of  His  relations 


1 84  CONS  OLA  TION. 

to  men.  His  character  is  unfolded  in  the 
most  minute  and  varied  forms  in  Moses, 
the  prophets,  and  the  Psalms. 

Can  we  find  anything  that  shows  Him 
to  be  unworthy  of  our  confidence  and 
trust  to  the  uttermost?  Even  His  se- 
verest condemnation  of  the  wicked  is 
always  accompanied  by  a  desire  to  for- 
give their  iniquities,  to  favor  and  bless 
them.  Can  He  who  is  love  fail  to  be 
merciful  and  bless  ?  Can  He  who  is  the 
truth  fail  to  speak  it  at  all  times  ? 

But  the  plainest  record  of  His  char- 
acter is  contained  in  the  Gospels.  There 
is  not  a  word  He  spoke  nor  an  act  He 
did  recorded  in  them  which  shows  Him 
to  be  unworthy  of  our  trust.  He  was 
accessible  to  all,  the  poor  as  well  as  the 
rich  ;  He  fed  the  hungry  ;  He  healed  the 
sick  ;  He  cleansed  the  lepers  ;  He  gave 
sight  to   blind   beggars ;    He   raised   the 


HOW  TO  LOVE  AND  TRUST  THE  LORD-    1 85 

dead;  He  invited  the  weary  and  heavy 
laden  to  come  unto  Him  and  He  prom- 
ised to  give  them  rest;  He  sympathized 
with  the  poor  and  needy  ;  "  In  all  their 
affliction  he  was  afflicted  ;  ...  in  his  love 
and  in  his  pity  he  redeemed  them."  He 
was  tempted  in  all  points  as  we  are  ;  He 
was  mocked  and  buffeted  and  spat  upon, 
crowned  with.thorns  and  crucified.  "  He 
is  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter, 
and  as  a  sheep  before  her  shearers  is 
dumb,  so  he  openeth  not  his  mouth." 
And  yet  He  had  all  power,  and  He  could 
have  scattered  His  enemies  like  chaff 
before  the  wind.  But  He  did  not  come 
to  destroy,  but  to  save.  Surely,  if  there 
is  any  being  in  the  universe  whom  we 
can  trust  it  is  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

But  we  must  not  only  trust  His  willing- 
ness and  power  to  help  us.     We  must 

rest  assured  that  He  will  do  it  at  the  best 

16* 


1 86  CONSOLATION. 

time  and  in  the  best  way,  and  with  the 
least  possible  suffering-  to  us.  We  must 
trust  that  He  will  do  the  best  He  can  for 
us  in  the  least  things  as  well  as  the  great- 
est, and  at  all  times.  He  watches  over  us 
when  we  sleep  and  cares  for  us  when  we 
wake,  and  directs  every  influence  and 
every  event  in  our  lives  to  do  us  the  least 
possible  harm  or  to  promote  our  highest 
good. 

Every  selfish  and  worldly  affection  we 
repress  removes  a  hindrance  to  our  at- 
tainment of  some  genuine  good.  Every 
deed  we  do  from  love  to  the  Lord  or 
the  neighbor  is  a  step  towards  Him  and 
heaven.  It  is  the  ultimate  embodiment 
of  an  affection  which  came  from  Him.  It 
is  a  permanent  addition  to  our  own  life 
and  an  enlargement  of  our  capacities  to 
receive  life  from  Him.  It  contains  in  its 
own  nature  a  soothing  balm  for  the  irrita- 


HO  IV  TO  LOVE  AND  TRUST  THE  LORD.    1 87 

tions,  the  fret  and  worry  of  disorderly  de- 
sires; comfort  in  our  distress,  hope  in 
our  despair,  and  consolation  in  all  our  be- 
reavements. To  all  in  every  condition  of 
life  our  Lord  says,  "  Come  unto  me,  all 
ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and 
I  will  give  you  rest. 

"  Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of 
me ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart : 
and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls. 

"  For  my  yoke  is  easy,  and  my  burden 
is  light." 


THE  END. 


U€SB  tIBRAK* 


